Thesis Abstract and Dissertation Abstracts

European Security and Defence Policy: Strengthening a climate of Security in the Mediterranean and avoiding a North/South Rift

Thesis Abstract by Roberto Pace from Date Submitted: May 18, 2005, 20:50 B. A. Eur. Stud. (Hons), University of Malta, 2002-2005

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Dissertation Keywords: European Studies, ESDP, Security Studies, Defence Studies

This Thesis Abstract | Dissertation Abstract may be cited as follows:
Pace, R. 2005. European Security and Defence Policy: Strengthening a Climate of Security in the Mediterranean and avoiding a North/South Rift. B.A. diss., University of Malta, Msida.

Thesis Abstract or Dissertation Abstract (Summary):
The 2004 enlargement, which brought the Union’s borders closer to states that could potentially undermine its stability, reinforced the need for the EU to develop a deployment capability of its own. The Mediterranean littoral was no exception to the profound changes brought about by the dismantling of the bi-polar world order. Situating itself in close proximity to the EU’s southern borders and economically dependent on its markets for its exports, it was always in the Mediterranean’s interest to establish close relations with the European Union. On the other hand, since the early 1970s, EU interest in the
Mediterranean was always present on its agenda, fluctuating according to changing EU Presidencies, until it was recognised as a region for the first time in 1995 by the Barcelona Declaration. The multilateral nature of this forum generated new possibilities both for the EU and North Africa to address common security concerns through the Political and Security Partnership although the Middle East conflict stalled any substantial progress from being achieved in practice. The establishment of the European Security and Defence Policy opened new possibilities for cooperation between the EU and the Mediterranean partners. The not exclusively military nature of the EU’s security and defence policy, embracing multilateral dialogue together with civil administration and enforcement, interacts with other external relations policies, which in the Mediterranean littoral assume the forms of the EMP and the ENP, not only boosting up Euro-Mediterranean relations but also providing the Political and Security Partnership with a possibility for a fresh start. The adoption of the European Security Strategy at the Thessaloniki European Council of 2001 finally equipped the ESDP with a coherent vision and a much needed scope, and reassured Arab suspicions that the EU’s security and defence policy would not target their interests. The concepts of ‘preventive engagement’ and ‘effective multilateralism’ asserted the European Union’s vision of security both to its Southern and Eastern flanks, that is, an area of mutual stability through the promotion of civil society via its external relations policies under the term ‘preventive engagement’ and the distribution of worldwide efficient governance through international institutions under the concept of ‘effective multilateralism’.

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