Three challenges faced the EU’s security and defense ambitions in the wake of the 2003 Iraq War: consolidation of the security zone around its emerging borders; re-forging its own internal unity in light of the Transatlantic crisis; and tailoring its military capacity to the new threats of the 21st century. Despite numerous stabilization initiatives directed at its Balkan, Mediterranean, South Eastern and Eastern neighbours, and the elaboration of a major Neighborhood Policy document, much work still needed to be done to address the fundamental problem of reconciling cooperation with exclusion. The Franco-British meltdown over Iraq, which had allowed the US to corral EU member States into 'old' and 'new' European camps, threatened at first to deepen internal European rifts. Such an outcome was avoided late in 2003 when the UK, Germany and France re-prioritised the requirements of a viable and united ESDP. On the third challenge, the EU succeeded in its first ever military missions under an EU flag. But it failed to address the issue of how to reconcile the military requirements of peace-keeping operations with those of the war on terror.

Jolyon Howorth is a Jean Monnet Professor of European politics at the Bath University (U.K.) and an Associate Research Fellow at Ifri.

This content is published in French : Au-delà des apparences ou les lents progrès de la PESD