Iraq Conflict and Esdp the European Security

Iraq Conflict and Esdp

The European Security and Defence Policy emerged in the wake of Kosovo Crisis when it was found that European Union essentially lacked the capabilities to play an effective role in Bosnia and later in Kosovo. This led to a collective understanding among major European powers that a better defence system was needed by the EU to address their common defence needs. With various crisis emerging and EU trying to play a significant role, it became increasingly clear in 1990s that European defence policy had serious shortcomings and no single European state alone could play an effective role in the resolution of global crisis. But the one crisis that forces European Union to give its defence policy greater weight and deeper meaning was the Iraq conflict of 2002-2003. The reason we say that is because prior to this crisis, ESDP had not yet taken the shape that it is found in today.

September 11 attacks was probably the most significant crisis affecting the world defence policies however it was still insufficient to put a wedge between European states on their stand on Bush policies. There was consensus on how Europe would respond to Bush policies and hence September 11 attacks were dealt with in similar fashion where all European countries stayed in complete agreement on their role in the crisis. However that all changed with Iraq conflict in 2002-2003 when suddenly there was a wedge between the European powers- there was Britain on one side desperately trying to support Bush on Iraq war and then there were all the rest of Europe still sticking to its low-key role in the conflict.

"Prior to the crisis in Iraq, EU state members displayed a striking degree of consensus in their approach to the foreign policies of the new Bush administration-consensus that survived the terrible events of September 11, 2001. Concurrently the collaboration among the member states led to significant progress in the development of ESDP, albeit constrained by uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding the precise nature and purpose of these policies." (Menon, 2004, p.631)

Iraq conflict did something remarkable for the development of ESDP: it exposed the wedge between member states and made it crystal clear that in a major conflict it was politically impossible to have all European states to cooperate. The dependence of Europe on the U.S. has become very obvious during the Kosovo crisis and with Iraq war, it became even more evident that U.S. will always have a bearing on how European states react to global crisis hence a solution was needed.

Strobe Talbot, former Deputy Secretary of State, had this to say about European forces and the U.S. At the end of Kosovo crisis:

Many Americans are saying: never again should the United States have to fly the lion's share of the risky missions in a NATO operation and foot by far the biggest bill. On the other hand, many Europeans seem determined never again to feel quite so dominated by the U.S. As they did during Kosovo, or, for that matter, during Bosnia. In the next crisis -- whatever, wherever and whenever it is -- our allies want a say in the conduct of operations more nearly commensurate with the political onus that they bear in supporting the war. At least, no one, on either side, is complacent about the status quo.