The policy areas covered by the second of the three pillars of the European Union (EU), established by the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. The EU member states which called for the creation of a CFSP aimed to reinforce existing inter-governmental cooperation on foreign policy carried out in the context of European Political Cooperation, in place since the early 1970s. In particular, the German government sought to introduce a stronger supranational element to CFSP policy-making but met strong French and British resistance. CFSP introduced two new decision-making instruments to the EU: common positions to establish cooperation on a day-to-day basis and joint actions to allow Member States to act together on the basis of Council decisions as to the specific scope, objectives, duration, and means of such actions, and procedures for carrying them out. Council decisions were based on unanimity but specific joint actions (in areas agreed upon) would be based on Qualified Majority Voting (QMV). The introduction of this supranational element to CFSP decision-making was designed to diminish the potential for deadlock in the Council.

The CFSP has enjoyed qualified successes, including the agreement of a European Stability Pact agreed in 1993 (with regard to the Central and Eastern European countries) and the policing of the divided Bosnian city of Mostar. More frequently, EU member states have failed to reach agreement on coordinated policy stances and joint actions. The use of QMV to implement joint actions has been avoided due to the controversial nature of policy issues and the preference for unanimity. There were also problems establishing and operating the CFSP unit in the Council secretariat, the body of national foreign policy officials responsible for improving coordination.

The Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 includes an attempt to resolve these difficulties. The position of EU High Representative on Foreign and Security Policy attached to the Council secretariat was created to give the CFSP a higher profile and to contribute to the formulation and implementation of policy. Javier Solana, the former head of NATO, was appointed as the first high representative in 1998 and, attempted to assert his leadership role in relation to successive Council presidents. National governments also agreed to create the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit, the lack of which was seen as one of the main weaknesses of CFSP. The reluctance of member states to share sensitive information has limited the effectiveness of this unit and the EU member states continue to rely upon NATO security information.

Humanitarian missions, peacekeeping operations, policing, and evacuation of expatriates (labelled the Petersberg Tasks) were incorporated into the EU by the Amsterdam Treaty. The establishment of a European rapid reaction force was agreed in 1999, in order to give the EU the capability of carrying out such operations. The Nice Treaty (December 2000) has finally brought the Western European Union (WEU) into the CFSP and created a Common European Security and Defence Policy. This, however, is a misnomer as joint defence—although established as a goal of the EU—was the one element of the WEU which the British refused to allow to be incorporated.

— David Howarth

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.