The future of EU defence and inter-parliamentary co-operation

Abstract

The EU has embarked on new initiatives to achieve closer union in defence policy. This was signalled by the establishment of a Permanent Structure Cooperation (PESCO) in 2018. At the same time the EU institutions are on the cusp of approving the new European Defence Fund (EDF). In the context of the 2016 EU Global Strategy (EUGS), this chapter looks at some aspects of future developments in this field and argues in favour of more parliamentary involvement and oversight by the European Parliament and the national parliaments mindful that – with the exception of a few of them – the latter have not shown a lot of activism. In the context of the EU’s norms, the chapter looks at the traditional EU approaches in external relations such as ‘civilian power’ and ‘democracy promotion’, and how the parliamentary oversight could ensure that they are preserved in the EU’s foreign policy repertoire. Parliaments can also contribute to the clarification of strategic autonomy and the still vague “principled pragmatism” cited in the EUGS.