While the Common Defence debate is now temporarily on the back-burner, EU decisions on EU structures for military and civilian interventions outside the EU are imminent. The Balkan crisis underlined rather forcibly for us the fragile foundations on which European security rests. It was a sobering lesson. Our new security doctrine, both in the European Union and in the United Nations, will have to recognise this situation. The actions of one state, or indeed of a transnational corporation can have major implications for their neighbours and for society.
Environmental catastrophes know no boundaries.
Organised crime ignores borders. Genocidal regimes, ethnic and feudal wars, and dictatorships cannot be allowed to proceed unhindered without some international action - in accordance with international law. Security can no longer be considered a simple affair of deploying military assets directed towards achieving military solutions. An effective security strategy recognises the role that societal fragmentation, poverty, ethnic conflicts, and resource conflicts, play in destabilising countries and regions, and seeks ways to prevent such conflicts by working to eliminate the basis of such conflicts. It addresses issues of governance, the politics of identity and the structures of civil society.