The impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the EU’S status as a civilian or normative power

Abstract

The nature of power of the European Union (EU) has always been of great debate. While some scholars define the EU as a civilian, which emphasizes on economic and diplomatic actions, or a normative power which aims to promote values, some scholars attempt to assess the military power of the EU. This debate has become more prominent since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and the significant increase in the EU’s security and defence capabilities. This research aims to identify the nature of the power of the EU following the Lisbon Treaty, that is, to see if the EU is changing from being a civilian or normative power and, if yes, to what extent. First, the nature of power of the EU from the Maastricht Treaty up to before the Lisbon Treaty is analysed and it is shown that the EU was carrying out civilian and normative policies. Then an analysis of the security and defence initiatives since the Lisbon Treaty is made, including the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS), Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the Mutual Assistance Clause, the Solidarity Clause, the European Defence Fund (EDF) and the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD). Through document-based research, it is found that while the Treaty articles’ wordings and the proposals included may seem to significantly boost the EU’s security and defence, the implementation of many of these initiatives has proven otherwise. While security and defence have been given more prominence since the Lisbon Treaty, with the Commission placing security and defence as a main priority, the implementation of PESCO and the Mutual Assistance Clause has shown that it is no more than an intergovernmental means through which member states cooperate. This does not in-turn boost the EU’s military capabilities. Analysis of the Solidarity Clause shows that it is only invoked in exceptional cases, as resorting to this clause is only possible after exhausting all national resources and capabilities. The EDF is a significant initiative since it is the first time that an EU budget has been directly targeted for defence. The EDF seems to be far-reaching and the Commission aims to increase its budget, however, since this is a recent initiative, its practical results in terms of the EU increasing its military capabilities cannot be seen so far. It is possible that it has not yet reached its full potential. Furthermore, the first implementation report of the CARD has not yet been published.