The Western European Union and the Yugoslav conflict

Abstract

1992 was a crucial year for European defence and security policies due to changes in the international scenario. One of such developments was the Yugoslav crisis, that in 1992 turned into a violent and genocidal conflict shocking Europe and the world. Despite having the required capacity, the Western European Union (WEU) did not manage to end the conflict with its military and diplomatic efforts. By drawing on the archival documents of the Historical Archives of the European Union, this article explores the Proceedings of WEU Assembly to provide new evidence of the divisions existing among WEU members precluding an agreement.

Keywords:

• WEU
• defence
• security
• Yugoslavia
• Europe
• NATO

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Philipp Ther, The Outsiders. Refugees in Europe since 1492 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 2019), 124.

2 Sally Rohan, The Western European Union. International Politics between alliance and integration (London: Routledge 2014), 272.

3 Wyn Rees, The Western European Union at the Crossroads (London: Routledge 2019), 88.

4 Anand Menon, ‘From independence to cooperation: France, NATO and European security’, International Affairs 71/1 (1995), 19–34.

5 Sean Kay, NATO and the Future of European Security (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield 1998).

6 Luisa Vierucci, ‘The Role of the Western European Union (WEU) in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security’, International Peacekeeping 2/3 (1995), 309–29.

7 Burns, J., ‘In a “Cleansed” Bosnian Town, Croats, Not Serbs, Aim Guns’, The New York Times, 30 Oct. 1992.

8 Frank Schimmelfennig, ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism and the Crises of the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies 56/7 (2018), 1578–594; Andrew Moravcsik, ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism.’ Oxford Research Encyclopedias (2020), https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1065;jsessionid=534AF02F647D64224A0E76C971F92B2A.

9 Frank Schimmelfennig. ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism’, in Marianne Riddervold, Jarle Trondal, Akasemi Newsome (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2021), 61–78.

10 Andrew Moravcsik, The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht (London: Routledge 1998).

11 Anthony Forster, ‘Britain and the Negotiation of the Maastricht Treaty: A Critique of Liberal Intergovernmentalism’, Journal of Common Market Studies 36/3 (2002), 347–68; Frank Schimmelfennig, ‘Liberal intergovernmentalism and the euro area crisis”, Journal of European Public Policy 22/2 (2015), 177–95.

12 Christopher Meyer, ‘Convergence Towards a European Strategic Culture? A Constructivist Framework for Explaining Changing Norms’, European Journal of International Relations 11/4 (2005), 523–49; Anand Menon, ‘European Defence Policy from Lisbon to Libya’, Survival 53/3 (2011), 75–90; Jolyon Howorth, ‘Differentiation in security and defence policy’, Comparative European politics, 17 (2019), 261–77.

13 Mareike Kleine, and Mark Pollack, ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism and Its Critics’, Journal of Common Market Studies 56/7 (2018), 1493–1509, 1494.

14 Erik Jones, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Sophie, ‘Failing forward? The Euro crisis and the incomplete nature of European integration’, Comparative Political Studies 49/7 (2016), 1010–1034, 1013.

15 Frank Schimmelfennig, ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism’.

16 Heinz Gärtner, ‘European Security, NATO and the Transatlantic Link: Crisis Management’, European Security 7/3 (1998), 1–13.

17 Pierre Hassner, ‘The Priority of Constructing Western Europe’, in Gregory F. Treverton (ed.), Europe and America Beyond 2000 (New York and London: Council on Foreign Relations Press 1990), 18–35, 21.

18 See Article J.4 here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:11992M/TXT&from=EN.

19 See: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11992M/TXT

20 Vierucci, ‘The Role of the Western European Union (WEU) in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security’, International Peacekeeping, 309–29.

21 Simon J. Nuttall, European Foreign Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000), 179.

22 William Bradford, ‘The Western European Union, Yugoslavia, and the (Dis)Integration of the EU, The New Sick Man of Europe’, Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 24/1 (2000), 13–84.

23 Ibid., 14.

24 Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson, ‘Eastbound and down: The United States, NATO enlargement, and suppressing the Soviet and Western European alternatives, 1990–1992’, Journal of Strategic Studies 43/6–7, 816–46.

25 Tom Lansford, ‘The triumph of transatlanticism: NATO and the evolution of European security after the cold war’, Journal of Strategic Studies 22/1 (1999), 1–28, 8.

26 Catherine McArdle Kelleher, ‘The Future of European Security.” Brookings Occasional Papers’ (Washington: The Brookings Institution 1995), 58.

27 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 53.

28 See for example the report ‘Problems for European security arising from pacifism and neutralism’ he authored earlier in 1982, HAEU, WEU-55, vol. III., p. 13.

29 Ibid.

30 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 60.

31 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 65.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Document 1309, 13th May 1992. WEU-77, vol. I, p. 197.

35 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 73.

36 Heinz Gärtner, ‘Austria: Engaged Neutrality’, in Andrew Cottey (ed.), The European Neutrals and NATO. Non-alignment, Partnership, Membership? (Chem: Springer 2018), 129–149.

37 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 78.

38 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 81.

39 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 82.

40 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 82.

41 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, pp. 82–3.

42 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 101.

43 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 116.

44 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 119.

45 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 121.

46 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. I, Document 1319, p. 301.

47 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 126.

48 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 128.

49 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 132.

50 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 134.

51 Ibid.

52 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 138.

53 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 129.

54 HAEU, WEU-77, vol. II, p. 139.

55 Lansford , ‘The triumph of transatlanticism: NATO and the evolution of European security after the cold war’, 1–28, 8.

56 Nuttall, European Foreign Policy, 181.

57 Frank Schimmelfennig. ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism’, in Marianne Riddervold, Jarle Trondal, Akasemi Newsome (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2021), 61–78.

58 Andrew Moravcsik, ‘Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach’, Journal of Common Market Studies 31/4 (1993), 473–524, 494.