document1

The St Malo Declaration and the Birth of ESDP

Learning Object Description

This lesson provides an overview of the historical and geopolitical context within which the

European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) was launched. It discusses NATO’s changing

role in the post-Cold War era, developments within the European Union (EU), such as the

creation of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and in particular the

British-French St Malo Declaration, which proved to be the diplomatic turning point in the

creation of ESDP.

Learning Object Objectives

In this lesson, you will learn about the history and political context within which the

development of ESDP took place. You will learn about the most important political and

diplomatic events that led to the creation of ESDP and the main reasons why European policy

makers decided to establish ESDP.

Introduction A routine British-French summit was held in the northern French port of St Malo on 3–4

December 1998. This summit was to be a turning point in the public diplomacy that led to the

creation of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).

The French team was led by Conservative President

Jacques Chirac (left), who had been president of

France since 1995. Chirac’s counterpart was British

Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

© French Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Photographic Service


Blair was elected in 1997 after a campaign that promised that the United Kingdom would

position itself at the centre of Europe, while keeping its core commitment to the North

Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). France and the United Kingdom were both founding

members of NATO, but France left the military command structure in 1966. France and the

United Kingdom were considered the two leading military powers in Europe, and both were

major NATO and European Union (EU) members. It was therefore safe to assume that no

major changes to military security or to the provision of defence by European institutions

would come about unless they both agreed.

The St Malo Declaration The St Malo Declaration stated that the EU should acquire the “capacity for autonomous

action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness

to do so, in order to respond to international crises”. However, such a commitment should not

challenge the role of NATO: EU countries should act “in conformity with the respective

obligations in NATO”.

Before continuing, please read the St Malo Declaration, and then answer the question.

External Document

Joint Declaration of the Heads of State and Government of France and the United Kingdom,

issued at the British-French summit, St Malo, 3–4 December 1998.

Question 1

Which of the following statements is correct? At the St Malo summit, France and the United

Kingdom decided to:

create a European army.

create a joint French-British corps.

give the EU the capacity for autonomous military action.

sign a treaty of friendship.


British and French Motives and the US Reaction What were Blair’s and Chirac’s motives in adopting the St Malo Declaration, and how did the

United States (US) react to the initiative?

British Motives

During the post-World War II period, an important foreign policy concern of the United

Kingdom had been to maintain and strengthen the transatlantic link between Europe and the

US: The United Kingdom saw itself as a bridge-builder between the two continents. However,

the security system changed fundamentally after the Cold War. After the bloodshed in the

Balkans, the British government realized that the EU must take on more responsibility for

security and defence. Further, Tony Blair’s election as prime minister marked a fundamental

shift in the United Kingdom’s approach to Europe. Blair favoured a policy of constructive

engagement within European institutions. And in the field of security and defence, the United

Kingdom could offer both credibility and leadership.

French Motives

Like the United Kingdom, France was convinced that after the Cold War domestic stability

and integration into the EU no longer sufficed to ensure security in Europe. Moreover, a core

objective of French foreign and security policy had long been to create a (relatively)

autonomous European security and defence policy to counterbalance the US and complement

NATO. France also hoped that such a policy would lead to a more balanced transatlantic

partnership.

The US Reaction

On the other side of the Atlantic, the St Malo Declaration was met with a certain amount of

scepticism. High-level US policy makers, including then-US secretary of state Madeleine

Albright, publicly expressed their concern about Blair and Chirac’s initiative, which they

thought might drive a wedge between the US and Europe, undermine NATO, and lead to

unnecessary duplications in security policy issues. Many in Europe, aware of US unease, were

concerned that the creation of an autonomous European defence capacity would lead the US

to lose interest in the continent’s security problems.


While the St Malo Declaration marked a cornerstone in the development of a genuinely

European security and defence policy, the declaration has to be viewed in a geopolitical

context that includes the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changing roles of NATO and the EU

in the post-Cold War world.

The Post-Cold War World After 1989, with the fall of the

Berlin Wall, the end of the Soviet

empire in Europe, and the

collapse of the Soviet Union, the

international system changed

fundamentally. Many hoped that

the fear of an all-out war between

the two main protagonists (the US

and the Soviet Union) was past.

Germany and Europe could be

united. Liberal democracy and the free market could spread, energized by the technological

revolution and globalisation. All European states saw a decrease in defence spending and a

numerical reduction of armed forces.

However, the post-Cold War era developed in rather different ways. Nationalism, ethnic

tensions, and conflicts within states spread. Western powers, along with a broad “coalition of

the willing”, were still able to act effectively together against Saddam Hussein after his

invasion of Kuwait. In the Balkan region, however, violent conflict erupted, and for some

time neither the Americans nor the Europeans were able or willing to deal with armed conflict

on the borders of the Euro-Atlantic area.

In the following section, we examine NATO’s changing role after the Cold War. We then turn

to the efforts of the EU to establish a common foreign and security policy.


NATO’s Changing Role NATO’s task as a defence alliance appeared complete, once the Soviet empire and then the

Soviet Union disintegrated. But during the 1990s, NATO was busy transforming itself. New

bodies were created to ensure the loyalty of emerging states: The North Atlantic Cooperation

Council (NACC), later called the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), and the

Partnership for Peace (PfP) were the most important, and the NATO-Russia Council the most

obvious, evidence of the new world. At the 1997 NATO summit, the decision was taken to

enlarge NATO. France began talks that could have meant its reintegration into the military

command structure, and Spain joined NATO’s military command structure.

NATO’s mission was also transformed, and NATO was adapted to match the new strategic

environment in which the old Soviet threat had vanished but in which many new threats and

challenges had appeared. NATO’s operational framework had to be changed, so NATO could

deploy flexibly and effectively. In 1994, and then in 1995, NATO warplanes took to the air

for the first time in the alliance’s history – not in defence of territorial integrity but to try and

contain the bloodshed in the Balkans. The European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI)

was set up, in which the Europeans were to be given a greater role and more responsibility in

providing their own security in the new NATO. Under the ESDI, Combined Joint Task Forces

(CJTFs) were established to deploy force modules more flexibly, and NATO planning

mechanisms were re-examined.

The Creation of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) During the Cold War, the European Community had no military tools at its disposal.

Individual states had their own military forces, and NATO provided a defence alliance for

most European Community states. The European Community was thus a “nested security

community”. This transatlantic bargain was widely accepted during the era of Soviet threat,

and it was always clear that the bargain implied that the key institution for Western defence

was the US-led NATO, and not the European Community. The bargain entailed costs, too:

financial costs for the US defence budget, troop commitments in Europe, and uneven burden

sharing between the two sides of the Atlantic.


In 1991, at the European Community summit in Maastricht, European leaders decided to

create the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) out of a much vaguer mechanism for

European foreign policy coordination (European Political Cooperation). With the Treaty on

European Union, which was adopted at Maastricht, the European Union (EU) was

established, and its institutional structure was set up. The structure consists of three pillars:

The first comprises the European Communities, the second consists of CFSP, and the third

covers justice and home affairs. The creation of CFSP (as the EU’s second pillar) meant that

EU member states could decide jointly on common foreign policy actions. Some European

states already had additional protection from the Western European Union (WEU), although

this institution had no military tools. So at Maastricht, European Community leaders decided

that the WEU was to be an integral part of the development of the EU; the WEU’s role was to

elaborate and implement EU decisions and actions that have defence implications. Six years

later in Amsterdam, EU heads of state and government supported the idea that the EU foster

closer institutional relations with the WEU with a view to the integration of the WEU into the

EU, should the European Council so decide. The heads of state and government also provided

the EU with access to an operational capability, and the Petersberg tasks were incorporated

into the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Questions Before continuing, please answer the questions below.

Question 2

During the Cold War, the European Community had _________ military capabilities, and the

collective defence of most European Community member states was provided by

___________.

Question 3

The European Community decided to create the Common Foreign and Security Policy

(CFSP) at the summit in _____________, which took place in ________.


Question 4

Within the EU’s institutional structure, CFSP constitutes the ____________ pillar.

Question 5

Which of the following statements are true?

The European Political Cooperation replaced the Common Foreign and Security

Policy.

The Common Foreign and Security Policy followed the European Political

Cooperation.

At the Maastricht summit, EU leaders decided to abolish the Western European

Union because it had no military tools.

At the Maastricht summit, EU leaders decided to strengthen the Western European

Union.

St Malo and Beyond The St Malo Declaration resulted from the recognition that the various efforts made in the

1990s to strengthen the WEU would not provide effective and credible military security for

the new challenges the Europeans faced that were not existential threats to territories. The

WEU was not given enough authority to allow it to execute its new mandate. Moreover, the

EU had failed as a foreign policy actor in the Balkans, when war there persisted and spread.

NATO, too, had been reluctant to act; it did not become involved in the Balkans until 1994–

95, when the US decided to act. Further, it was unclear whether the US, through NATO,

should or was willing to continue to play the leading role in preventing conflicts on European

soil once the Cold War was over.

The St Malo Declaration was the diplomatic turning point in the creation of a European

security and defence policy; at the June 1999 EU summit in Cologne, Germany, the EU as a

whole embraced the goals set forth at St Malo. The joint declaration adopted by EU leaders at

the Cologne summit was very much in line with the St Malo Declaration. Like the St Malo


Declaration, the Cologne Declaration stated that the EU should acquire the necessary means

and capacities to engage in EU-led crisis management operations. It also made clear that the

EU’s efforts in this area should not challenge the role of NATO as the basis of collective

defence of all NATO members. With the Nice Treaty, concluded by EU countries in 2000,

ESDP was given a formal basis and was thus brought into the EU’s institutional structure.

Before continuing, please answer the following question.

Question 6


The St Malo Declaration was agreed upon by the United Kingdom, France, and

Germany.

The St Malo Declaration was agreed upon by the United Kingdom and France.

The St Malo Declaration was met with some criticism from the US.

The St Malo Declaration was met with great enthusiasm from the US.

ESDP was incorporated into the EU’s framework with the Amsterdam Treaty.

ESDP was incorporated into the EU’s framework with the Nice Treaty.

Summary During the Cold War, the European Community had no autonomous military capacity, and for

its security it was entirely dependent on NATO. While attempts were made to strengthen the

WEU in the 1990s, it became clear by the end of the decade that the WEU would not be

allowed to grow into an effective security policy mechanism. The rise of nationalism and

ethnic tensions on the borders of the EU and the EU’s failure to prevent the wars in the

Balkans led many Europeans to believe that the EU should be able to deal with crises in its

neighbourhood, in particular when NATO was not involved. With the St Malo Declaration,

the United Kingdom and France gave the EU the foundation for developing a capacity for

autonomous military action and thus for addressing Europe’s shortcomings as a security actor,

without, however, challenging NATO’s role. At subsequent EU summits, this objective was

accepted by all EU countries, and ESDP was incorporated into the EU’s formal structure.


Short Chronology The following short chronology gives you an overview of the most important diplomatic

events in the creation of ESDP:

Maastricht Treaty, 1992

Treaty on European Union and creation of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy

(CFSP). The treaty stipulates that the WEU is an integral part of the development of the EU.

Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997

The Petersberg tasks are incorporated into the treaty.

British-French Joint Declaration on European Defence, St Malo, 1998

The declaration states that the EU must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up

by credible military forces, the means to decide to use these forces, and a readiness to do so in

order to respond to international crises.

Cologne European Council Meeting, 1999

The objectives of St Malo are adopted by the European Council.

Treaty of Nice, 2000

ESDP is incorporated into the EU’s institutional structure.


Answers to the Exercises

Question 1

Which of the following statements is correct? At the St Malo summit, France and the United

Kingdom decided to:

give the EU the capacity for autonomous military action.

Question 2

During the Cold War, the European Community had no military capabilities, and the

collective defence of most European Community member states was provided by NATO.

Question 3

The European Community decided to create the Common Foreign and Security Policy

(CFSP) at the summit in Maastricht, which took place in 1991.

Question 4

Within the EU’s institutional structure, CFSP constitutes the second pillar.

Question 5


The Common Foreign and Security Policy followed the European Political

Cooperation.

At the Maastricht summit, EU leaders decided to strengthen the Western European

Union.


Question 6


The St Malo Declaration was agreed upon by the United Kingdom and France.

The St Malo Declaration was met with some criticism from the US.

ESDP was incorporated into the EU’s framework with the Nice Treaty.

This module was written by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. It is part of the e-learning course on European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), which was jointly developed by the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). The course is available at www.esdp-course.ethz.ch.

Last update 20 August 2007.

document1

Documents