The hybrid role of the High Representative in the security and defence field: more in 10 months than in the 10 years?

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing “momentum” on European Union (EU) security and defence, there are no academic analyses that aim to systematically assess the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission (HR/VP) in these strategic domains. This is surprising given that the HR/VP is one of the central actors in the complex institutional architecture of EU security and defence. To fill this gap in the scholarly literature and to contribute to a more fine-grained analysis of the two post-Lisbon Treaty HR/VPs, the article assesses Ashton and Mogherini’s mandates in these fields. This study is particularly relevant because the HR/VP’s hybrid institutional role may represent a unique analytical angle to investigate a formally intergovernmental sector, strongly shaped also by EU institutions’ authority over defence-industrial policy. Following these considerations, the article looks at how the two HR/VPs managed to navigate both the military and the defence-industrial dimensions of EU security and defence.

KEYWORDS:

• European defence
• High Representative
• Mogherini
• PESCO
• security

Notes on contributors

Antonio Calcara is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the LUISS “Guido Carli” University in Rome and Adjunct Professor at the Vesalius College of the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels. His research interests are in the fields of European Security and Defence, International Relations and Security Studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article focuses exclusively on the defence-related component of EU security and defence and not on the civilian dimension of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). For a useful distinction, see Fiott (2020).

2 Article 346 TEU allows “any member state may take such measures as it considers necessary for the protection of the essential interests of its security which are connected with the production of or trade in arms, munitions and war material”.

3 European countries still need to agree on the EU’s multi-annual financial budget. Proposals have ranged from €6 to €13 billion over the forthcoming seven-year period. Negotiations are still ongoing and external factors (including the response to the COVID-19 crisis).