Οι ειρηνευτικές στρατιωτικές επιχειρήσεις της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια: το κενό «βούλησης- εφαρμογής»

Abstract

To date the EU has made significant steps to devise a common European Security and Defense Policy. This article seeks to shed light on the military aspect of this endeavor. The central question that it raises and tries to answer is whether the proclaimed will of the EU to provide the Western Balkans with security by military means is attained. From this angle, the analysis of EU military peace missions in Bosnia and FYROM shows what we coin a “will implementation gap”. The latter denotes the mismatch that exists between the EUs political will to take the lead in enforcing or keeping peace and the operational way its military missions are carried out in the field. This gap, we assert, could be theoretically explained by the dialectic of intergovernmentalism and supranationalem that has determined the dynamics of European integration since its launch. Also, we suggest that the “will-implementation gap” should constitute the basis of an alternative conceptual approach to investigating into the role of the EU as a “security provider”. In addition to this key finding, the analysis of EU military peace missions indicates the progressive evolution of the European Security and Defense Policy