POLICY OPINION No 9 / DECEMBER 2020
POLICY OPINION No 9 / DECEMBER 2020

Author(s): Milan Igrutinović
Subject(s): Politics, Security and defense, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: ISAC - Centar za međunarodne i bezbednosne poslove
Keywords: EU Civilian Crisis Management; Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP); Civilian CSDP Compact; Crisis Management Missions; Serbia EU Integration; Security Sector Reform
Summary/Abstract: The civilian crisis management was first instituted through the efforts of the European Economic Community to provide humanitarian aid at the time of the Cold War and was later taken up by the European Union. With the end of the Cold War and the EU’s endeavours to develop common foreign policy, civilian crisis management progressively gained importance and acceptance, as the Union was almost exclusively a civilian institution. Civilian crisis management became a crucial foreign policy instrument of the Union’s common foreign and defence policy. Under the Saint-Malo Declaration (1998), the foreign and security policy of the European Union (EFSP), which was later to evolve into the Common foreign and security policy, dealt exclusively with the military dimension of crisis management, whereas “the non-military crisis management” remained practically disregarded. It is safe to assume that in the late 20th century, the European Union perceived itself as a future military actor in the global security. Civilian crisis management gained prominence in the European foreign and security policy with the launch of a mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina (2003), rendering the military dimension a lesser but nonetheless important part of the EFSP/CFSP. Since 2003 the European Union has contributed to the global security through 22 civilian missions, of which ten are currently deployed worldwide. With the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon and creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), a comprehensive approach was taken to improve the coherence of the EU’s external action.

• Details
• Contents