Towards German leadership? Germany’s Evolving Role and the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

In the context of the Eurozone crisis, Germany is widely seen to have emerged as the EU’s most influential member state. More is now expected of Germany also in the area of security and defence, where its ability and willingness to provide leadership have traditionally been highly circumscribed. Currently, Germany’s role in this policy area is evolving. Germany has since 2014 underscored its readiness to assume more responsibility in its foreign and security policy. Against this background, this article assesses German leadership in the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The article emphasises that leadership in the EU can only be exercised jointly, therefore concentrating on Germany’s ability to act as a ‘co-leader’ or to provide, together with France, ‘shared leadership’. We argue that apart from a short period in the early years of the CSDP, Germany has not been a co-leader in this area. However, the Brexit vote and the dynamics set in motion by Donald Trump’s presidency have spurred Franco-German shared leadership in the CSDP. This shared leadership has then been ‘Europeanised’, leading to some significant steps in the CSDP. The endurance of this leadership remains unclear and depends crucially on the compatibility of French and German strategic views.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful remarks.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tuomas Iso-Markku, Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Arkadiankatu 23 B, 00101 Helsinki, Finland, (Mailing address: P. O. Box 425, FI-00101 Helsinki). Telephone: [phone]. Email: [email protected].

Prof. Dr. Gisela Müller-Brandeck-Bocquet, Jean-Monnet-Chair, Professor for International Relations and European Studies, Institute for Political Science and Sociology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Wittelsbacherplatz 1, 97074 Würzburg, Germany , Telephone: [phone]. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 “Polycrisis” is a term coined by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for the EU’s multiple and simultaneous crises since 2009/2010.

2 The denomination Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009; formerly, the denomination was “European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)”. To avoid confusion, this article only uses the term CSDP.

3 A description introduced by Stephen George in the title of his book ‘An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community’.

4 The term ’Mitführungsmacht’ was initially introduced by Helga Haftendorn in 2001 to catch Germany’s foreign policy role.

5 In this context, ‘Europeanisation’ only refers to the process whereby key EU institutions become involved in co-leadership efforts. The way the term is used here is therefore not directly linked to the extensive branch of ‘Europeanisation literature’ which looks at the way EU politics and policies interact with the politics and policies of its member states.

6 During his visit to Poland on 6 July 2017, however, President Trump avowed himself fully to article 5 of the treaty.

7 Even after the Brexit vote, UK defense minister Michael Fallon declared that the UK is ’going to continue to oppose any idea of an EU army or EU army headquarters, which would simply undermine NATO’. Politico, 9/28/16.

8 Interview with a member state official working on defence issues at one of the permanent representations in Brussels throughout the period discussed here, 6 March 2019.

9 Interview. See note 8.