ABSTRACT
The debate surrounding the alleged shift from ‘hard’ to ‘soft’ security issues has pervaded much of the discussion on European security overall since 1989. Notwithstanding a widespread perception that the hard (i.e., military) dimension of security has become progressively less important, European Union member states have taken a more sustained interest in the question of endowing their institution with a military capability than at any previous point in its history, with the exception of the early 1950s when a plan for a ‘European Defence Community’ was hatched and aborted. The backdrop to these political manoeuvres has been the new opportunities made available by the removal of the old superpower ‘overlay’ which made Europe (East and West) primarily an object, rather than a subject, in the military power machinations which took place during the Cold War era.2 Many, especially in continental Western Europe, now argue that the European Union both can and should overcome what they feel is the most significant outstanding barrier to its emergence as a fully fledged international power. The first part of this chapter will, therefore, examine the progress made and the obstacles that remain to the development of a viable EU military capability.
