Could EU-endorsed ‘coalitions of the willing’ strengthen EU security policy?

The EU could be a more effective security provider if it mandated operations by coalitions of willing member-states, but that requires consensus. The next best thing is to support ad-hoc groupings outside the EU framework.    

 
The EU’s foreign and security policy has always been hamstrung by the need for consensus between the member-states, and their frequent disagreements on what to do. This phenomenon is most visible in security policy and especially the use of military force. The Union has had military units made up of different member-states’ troops, the so-called ‘battlegroups’, on standby since 2007. However, they have never been used, as member-states have never agreed to deploy them. And, while the EU has launched more than three dozen operations within the framework of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), these have overwhelmingly focused on tasks like providing military training, conflict prevention, or post-conflict stabilisation – not on combat operations.

Whenever quick and potentially risky military action seemed necessary – as in Libya in 2011; in 2013, when Islamist insurgents threatened to topple the Malian government; in 2014, when the Islamic State swept through Iraq; or in 2021, during the evacuation of Afghanistan – member-states did not agree to launch a CSDP mission. Instead, those EU countries that wanted to take military action did so in ad-hoc groupings, sometimes including or even led by non-member states, that could act more quickly and were more flexible. Examples include the Takuba taskforce in Mali, through which special forces from a dozen member-states have supported French-led stabilisation efforts in the Sahel, and the European Maritime Awareness Mission in the Strait of Hormuz (EMASOH) through which Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Norway have sought to de-escalate tensions between Iran and its rivals in the Gulf. Another example is the global coalition to fight Islamic State, which included eighty-four countries and organisations, and was led by the US.

 
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Πηγή: cer.eu