Atten-shun!!

When Slovenia shuffles off the podium of the EU Presidency tomorrow, France will assume the European Union’s top post for the second half of 2008. Among its priorities, the French leadership has asserted its ambition to formalise a common European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). However, France must prove that the EU needs a common ESDP to supersede member states’ security policies, and furthermore to demonstrate that the EU can be trusted to manage highly sensitive security and defence issues. 'Is the EU really up to the job?', asks Claire Daley. There is no concrete evidence that the EU could meet the expectations of being a military authority. Its recent missions to Chad and Kosovo have been largely civilian missions seeking to maintain security and justice, rather than full-scale military missions. The French... [read full story]