Written by Anna Bruschetta

For decades, the European security policy has been an open question, as its highly political relevance never conceded a fully supranational approach that would enable comprehensive interoperability. All security aspects are grounded in an intergovernmental logic dating back to the conception of the ‘second pillar’ established in Maastricht in 1992. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) remains ‘common’ only in some aspects, leaving wide discretion to a single MS. The same was likely to be the case for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Being specifically designed as the military component of the CFSP, the CSDP was decisive in offering Europe the opportunity of independently taking charge of its security issues on the military level by enhancing interoperable mechanisms among national forces.