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EUROPEAN MILITARY FORCES
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For the 50th anniversary of the EU, I’ve decided to research about EU military. In the text bellow I have made a summary of all I have read. I’ve found all the data on the links below.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_security, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Defence_Community)
The European Union does not have its own military forces. An attempt to form a European Defence Community in 1952 has failed and no similar project has been since then. As some of 27 EU member states are also the members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). When it comes to the military discussions in parliament all the states are constitutionally committed to remain neutral. Each state has to have certain military equipment due to EU jurisdictions.
But EU often sends peaceful forces in many different countries. Like EUFOR (European Union Force), that is a military deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The acroynym EUFOR was also used for a short deployment in 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
European Defence Community
The European Defence Community (EDC) was a plan proposed in 1950 by the French Prime Minister. A treaty was signed on 27 May 1952, but the plan never went into effect.
Today, the Western European Union, the European Union and NATO all carry out some of the functions which were envisaged for the EDC, although none approach the degree of supernational military control that the EDC would have provided for.
Collective Security
Collective Security is a system to maintain the peace, in which participants agree that any problem with peace will result in a collective response.
By employing a system of collective security, the UN hopes to advise any member state to act in a manner not to threaten peace, thereby avoiding any conflict.
However, many politicians who view the system as having faults also believe it remains a useful tool for keeping international peace.
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In my opinion, the collective security or EU defence community hasn’t done good work so far. The League of Nations that was founded after WW1, didn’t do anything to stop the WW2 to start. Now, as we can see the problems about effective UN decisions (attack on the 11/9 and after it, war in Iraq) appear also within EU defence community. Rok Vončina, 9a
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05/28/07 - Mija Susnik
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