The current legal framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) was set in stone in 2009 by the Treaty on European Union (TEU).
The CSDP is described in detail by the Articles 41 to 46 of the TEU.
Article 41, paragraph 2 of the TEU, prohibits expenditure arising from military operations from being charged to the EU budget. Therefore, a large percentage of the military operations costs should be covered by the EU Member States (MS).
According to Article 42 of the TEU, the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Council unanimously decide on matters related to the CSDP.
The CSDP framework is the result of a long legal battle. In 2004, the EU MS decided to ratify the relevant legal provisions to share some of the costs of military operations among them. This mechanism, called ATHENA, was established by the Council on 1 March 2004 to administer the financing of military operations in full accordance with Article 41 paragraph 2 of the TEU. Through the ATHENA mechanism, EU MS contributed an annual share to the military operations based on their gross national income. (Fiott, 2020,9-10)
However, several legal issues have arisen regarding the use of the relevant instruments to finance military missions in third countries. Therefore, on 27 March 2015, the Council decided to provide the legal basis for financing the common costs of the CSDP operations. Moreover, on 11 December 2017, the Council established the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) within the CSDP, to provide a relevant legal framework to further develop the MS contribution in the military operations.
Furthermore, in November 2018, the EU MS established the Civilian Common Security and Defence Policy Compact to strengthen the civilian CSDP missions and make them more effective. Its main purpose is to increase the share of international military mission personnel provided by MS to at least 70%. This policy also recommends what the EU MS can do to transfer their military mission contributions into actual outcomes. The policy aims to analyse the demand for the increase of the military personnel contributions of the EU MS to CSDP over time, which is essential to understand which capabilities should be further developed.
It is important to mention that even though the Compact itself is not binding, the MS have agreed to fully implement it by 2023. (Smit, 2019, 1)
Moreover, we should emphasise that EU MS are expected to contribute the most personnel to the military operations. According to the TEU, the military defence missions must carry out their mandates in line with the capabilities provided by the MS. The main advantage of this is that the CSDP missions will be carried out more credibly and effectively.
In December 2019, the further development of the CSDP became a priority for the EU MS, causing the EU to start developing a Strategic Compass in 2020. This compass will aim to give MS the possibility to have informal discussions to analyse the threats and the challenges of the CSDP.
On 22 March 2021, the Council established the European Peace Facility (EPF), which replaced the ATHENA mechanism without changing the method in which common costs on military operations were shared and administered. Therefore, the EPF does not change the main purpose of the ATHENA mechanism, it just makes some minor changes. Compared to ATHENA, the EPF also contributes to the financing of EU battlegroups.
The EPF brings something new and fundamental that the EU lacked in military assistance, namely flexibility. Through the EPF, the EU develops a stable and flexible funding platform to support its military missions and its partners’ international military missions. It also provides for the first time external action support for the procurement of military equipment.
EU MS have contributed significantly to the development of the CSDP framework, but there is still room for further improvement, for instance, by contributing more military personnel to civilian CSDP.
Written by Jorida Vela
Bibliography
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