The EU policy-making process and crisis management

Abstract

The cooperation on crisis management in the EU is the product of a unique policy-making process. This process can be described as an ongoing negotiation process involving a large number of participants both at the national and the EU-level. The results of the EU negotiation process are numerous and affect many aspects of the Member States' national crisis management policies. In order to support improved crisis management, the EU may, for example, adopt rules and regulations, disburse funds or develop cooperative practices and arrangements. There is also a value in the process itself, as it creates a network where national and EU crisis management actors exchange information and best practices. This chapter will describe how new policies on crisis management are formed, drawing on examples from the different policy sectors in focus of this book. It will introduce the institutional set-up of the EU and explain how the EU institutions interact in the policy-making process of today. Although there are several informal influences in this process, the chapter will focus on the formal structure of the process since this structure constitutes the framework through which the Member States and other actors can influence policies. The newly proposed Treaty of Lisbon will, however, alter some of the basic features of the EU policy-making process. Although the Lisbon treaty is still pending ratification by all Member States, the changes it entails for crisis management will be discussed throughout the chapter. One fundamental characteristic of the EU policy-making process on crisis management is that it is to a large extent reactive. Policy initiatives on particular programmes and arrangements for crisis management are developed in the aftermath of crises that have affected the union. This is, however, no different from national policy-making processes on crisis management which also tend to be driven by recent events. In the EU, policy proposals can be put forward at the highest political level in order to demonstrate the willingness of the EU to address a particular threat. This is the case of the Plan of Action on Combating Terrorism, which was launched by the European Council shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. The experience of previous crises can also spur the EU institutions to prepare comprehensive policy proposals in order to improve the crisis management capacity in different policy sectors. For example, in 2005, the Commission, making reference to recent terrorist attacks, proposed a programme to enhance critical infrastructure protection in the union. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.