European Union security strategy evolution

Abstract

The evolution of the EU security strategy can be divided into four stages:
1) the “pre-strategic” period and the adoption of the first strategy in 2003;
2) the debate on the EU Constitution and the final adoption of security and
defence regulations in the Treaty of Lisbon in 2008; 3) preparation and adoption
of the EU Global Strategy in 2016; 4) work on the implementation of
the Global Strategy of 2016. The first security strategy of 2003 was a political
manifesto of the will and ambition of the EU in the field of external policy
and security rather than a classic strategy. In particular, it lacked the indication
of means and instruments for its application. The Treaty of Lisbon has
created the necessary legal basis for the organization and conduct of a common
external security and defence policy in the EU. Work on the Global
Strategy and its adoption in 2016 was the EU’s reaction to radical changes
in the security environment, especially after Russia’s strategic turn in 2014,
including after the aggression against Ukraine. This strategy has launched the
EU’s political and strategic practice in the field of security and defence. The
implementation of its provisions is one of the practical elements of the EU’s
exit from the multidimensional strategic crisis in which it was in recent years.