The making of the ESDP: strategic context and actors

1. The making of the ESDP: strategic context and actors

2. The European defense integration in the cold war • European security community plans- the Dunkirk Treaty 1947/ Brussels Treaty 1948 • The Atlantic Alliance 1949 • The two pillars structure- the European divisions (Atlanticist and Europeanists, US hegemony or pooling of sovereignty) and American ambivalence (burden sharing and hegemony) • The transatlantic debate

3. NATO’s post cold war revival J. Howorth (2000) • Availability of military force when combat forces were needed • The alternative plans- CSCE/ OSCE and WEU • The reality of war • The French rapprochement with NATO • The role of the CEECs

4. CFSP- the alternative European security narrative • 1991-1994 the French blueprint based on WEU: the assessment of the new strategic environment; the role of NATO; the place of the CEECs • Mitterrand and Kohl letter to the Irish Presidency (1990) • The Key Largo Summit (1990) • The NATO London Summit • The Gulf war • The launch of Eurocorps in 1991 • The WEU role in the Yugoslav crisis • Bilateral initiatives

5. The US position • The position of the Congress and the executive branch of government • The ‘yes…, but’ (Sloan) position • Any attempt to replace, displace or subvert NATO will be resisted • European capabilities within the Atlantic framework will be welcomed • Resurgence of the burden-sharing debate

6. From ESDI to CESDP- the second half of the 1990s • ESDI- technical- military arrangements and the political message: the NAC in Brussels 1994 and the NAC in Berlin 1996 • The US swings between isolationism and burden-sharing • Transatlantic tensions: placement of military HQs; Albania and Kosovo; the CEECs • Intra-European tensions- the 1996 IGC and Amsterdam • July 1998 the Portschach Summit • December 1998 St. Malo