The permanent structured cooperation in the european Union. its real potential value

Abstract

For about more than a decade, the European Union (EU) has been dealing with particular dedication with security and defense issues. In particular, these issues have become increasingly relevant since the creation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was ratified in 2009, established the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) as successor to the ESDP and Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), whose particularities and potential will be the main object of this work. The gestation of the PESCO has taken nine years, and until 2016 the advances had been constant but moderate. That year all change, the process accelerated, and on December 11th, 2017 no less than 25 countries of the Union have signed their participation in it. What happened in 2016 to motivate the impulse received by PESCO? In short, PESCO has not focused on aspects of operational commitment but on military capabilities and on achieving further development of the defense industry of the countries of the European Union. For all this, the signatory countries have committed themselves to increase their defense budgets and to participate cooperatively in joint weapons programs. In this context, the Permanent Structured Cooperation and the commitments it implies for its members are perhaps the best way not only to reinforce and technologically update the military capabilities of the countries of the EU and to develop their defense industries, but also to contribute to give new impetus to the process of political integration by favoring employment and the interrelation of its citizens. And not only will these be the benefits of the PESCO, which would be more than sufficient reason for its creation, but it will also contribute very substantially to strengthening the capabilities of NATO, of which most of the countries of the Union are a part, and on which the defense of our continent depends at the moment.