Competing Schemes for Europe: The CSCE,NATO and the European Union

1 If the Maastricht Treaty enters into force on 1 January 1993, the European Community (EC) will become the European Union (EU). In this text the EC and the EU will be used interchangeably, but primarily in such a way that the EC refers to the present situation and the EU to the future.

2 Thomas M.T. Niles, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, Hearing in the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives, 26 February 1992. Discussions are also taking place on more comprehensive reductions - down to, for example, 60,000.

3 Treaty on European Union, `Europe' Documents 1759/60, 7 February 1992.

4 `The common foreign and security policy shall include all questions related to the security of the European Union, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence' - cited from `Provisions On a Common Foreign and Defence Policy', Article J of the Treaty on European Union.

5 `Wir haben in Maastricht massgeblich daran mitgewirkt, auf dem Weg zur Europäischen Union einen neuen Markstein zu setzen: Dort wurde der Grund gelegt für eine gemeinsame Sicherheitspolitik, die in ihrer Endstufe eine gemeinsame Verteidigung einschliessen wird'. Address by Helmut Kohl to the Chiefs of Staff of the Western European Union, 27 January 1992. Bulletin, Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung, no. 11/p.77, 31 January 1992.

6 Defining the CSCE as a regional security organization, according to the United Nations Charter, part VII - as is now increasingly done - makes easier a change of the German constitution, opening up for German participation in peace-keeping operation initiated by the CSCE or the UN.

7 `We have asked the Council in Permanent Session to address, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities, the practical options and modalities by which such support (peacekeeping) might be provided. This will be done without prejudice to possible contributions by other CSCE countries and other organizations to these operations'. Final communique from the meeting of the NATO Council of Ministers, Oslo 4 June, 1992, par. 11.

8 The Maastricht document, art. J. 1, § 4.

9 For an excellent analysis of the basis for collective security in today's Europe, see Charles A. Kupchan and Clifford A. Kupchan, `Concerts, Collective Security, and the Future of Europe', International Security, vol. 16, no. 1, 1991, pp. 114-161.

10 See Martin Sæter, `Utviklingen av en europeisk sikkerhets- og forsvarspolitisk identitet', (The Development of a European Security and Defence Policy Identity), Nedrustningsutvalgets Årbok 1991, (Oslo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1991).

11 Common Security: A Programme for Disarmament. The Report of the Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues under the Chairmanship of Olof Palme (London: Pan Books, 1982).

12 In addition to being fairly stable democracies new member countries must refrain from territorial demands against other states and guarantee minority rights. These have been the primary conditions in a cautious debate which, so far, has been held in an incremental and pragmatic perspective. See for example Karsten Voigt, `A Comprehensive concept for European Security' background paper for the North Atlantic Assembly, Committee for Defence and Security, AJ 83, DSC (92)4.

13 John Mueller, Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War, (New York: Basic Books, 1989). See also Carl Kaysen, `Is War Obsolete? A Review Essay', International Security, vol. 14, no.4, 1990, pp. 42-64.

14 John Lewis Gaddis, `Toward the Post-Cold War World' Foreign Affairs, vol. 70, no. 2, Spring 1991, pp. 102-122.

15 Cfr World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

16 Sverre Lodgaard and Anders Hjort af Örnäs eds, `The Environment and International Security', PRIO Report, no.3, 1992.

17 The principle of subsidiarity is part of the Single European Act of 1987, and it is elaborated upon in the Maastricht Treaty. The major new element in the Treaty is that nearly anyone can appeal a decision to the Court of Justice of the European Communities if there is reason to believe that the decision has been taken at a higher level than what is required.

18 This possibility also emerges in the wider European space. The Estonians may define themselves as Balts, as a Nordic people or as Central Europeans in their own order of priority. Likewise the Slovaks may choose to see themselves as Slovaks, Central Europeans, or Europeans, according to their own preference.