Ο ρόλος του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου στα πλαίσια της Κοινής Εξωτερικής Πολιτικής και Πολιτικής Ασφάλειας (ΚΕΠΠΑ) της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης

Abstract

As the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was left as an intergovernmental pillar by the Maastricht Treaty, only a minor role has been reserved for the European Parliament. The member states have proved to be extremely reluctant in offering competencies in a field which traditionally touches the hard core of national sovereignty and seems to be incompatible with the intervention of a parliamentary body. However, the Parliament has made efforts to exploit all competencies offered by the Treaty (consultation, information, questions and recommendations towards the Council, annual debate), completing simultaneously all the necessary internal arrangements (external affairs, security and defense policy committee, internal rules modification). The Parliament has asked for a substantial development of a real CFSP as well as for its own reinforcement. The Parliament’s role has been indirectly upgraded by the Amsterdam Treaty only in the financial part of the CFSP. The future scenarios for the parliamentary role in the CFSP, after taking into consideration the conclusions of the basic theoretical approaches of the European integration, finally confirm that its own role will directly depend on the progress of the procedure itself: the faster the political union develops along with the CFSP inclusion in the community pillar, the more substantial will be the role of the European Parliament.