The EU Global Security Strategy as a new vision of European quest for peace

The EU Global Security Strategy (EUGS) introduced a new overall approach to the foreign and security policy of the EU. These changes may be interpreted as a corrigendum to the European Security Strategy (ESS). Where the ESS had proved to be over-optimistic, the EUGS was more conscious of the limits imposed by the EU’s own capabilities and by the intractability of other countries. It charted a course between isolationism and interventionism, which the EUGS now calls ‘principled pragmatism.’ This represented a return to realpolitik. As the EUGS put it, ‘responsible engagement can bring about positive change’.

The EUGS defined the interests that are vital to all Member States: the security of EU citizens and territory, prosperity, democracy, and a rules-based global order to contain power politics. Based on these interests, the EUGS identified five priorities: (1) the security of the EU itself; (2) the neighbourhood; (3) how to deal with war and crisis; (4) stable regional orders across the globe; and (5) effective global governance. The first three priorities, in particular, reflected the modesty or realism imposed by ‘principled pragmatism’ by emphasizing EU security, the neighbourhood, and hard power and by no longer emphasizing democratization.

The EUGS focused on Europe’s own security (which was much less present in the ESS) and on the neighbourhood. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016 and the refugee crisis that followed the wars in Libya and Syria, addressing our internal and border security was indispensable for the EUGS to be credible with citizens and Member States alike. The focus on the neighbourhood was also justified by the limits of EU capabilities.

The EUGS placed much less emphasis on democracy. It stated that the EU would support democracy where it may be. In this context, the EUGS mentioned Tunisia and Georgia as positive examples. As many others do not wish to pursue closer relations with the EU, the EUGS placed emphasis on reducing the fragility of these states rather than on changing their regimes, for which the EU has but limited leverage.

Actually, lowering the EUGS’s level of ambition in terms of democratization was simply an acceptance of reality. The EU cannot democratize, for example, Egypt by force. However, based on the EUGS, the EU maintains diplomatic relations with (nearly) every country, not just with its 'friends', and the EU works with (nearly) every country whose interests coincide with its own.