The Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 2,1, Vrije University Brussel (Vakgroep Politische Wetenschapen), course: European Relations, language: English, abstract: What is the Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union? What are its intentions and goals, how is it situated in the framework of the European Union? How can decisions be made in that context and what influences the outcome of this process? Attempts of explanation will be made, although it is expected that the reader has sufficient knowledge about the history of european cooperation on the fields of foreign and security issues, as this research will start with the foundation of the CFSP in the Treaty on the European Union of Maastricht 1992/93. After investigation of the abilities and concepts of the CFSP the case of Serbia and Montenegro shall be put into focus. What has happened in the region paralell to the development of the CFSP in the decade of 1990 - 2000, affecting this new state. What sort of engagement was imposed by the European Union? Did it have adequate success or was it an overall failure to try and would have been better to leave this matter to the United States 'South Eastern European Cooperative Initiative' (SECI)? What was achieved through the Belgrade Agreement of March 2002, a real solution or a sort of ceasefire between the parties? Concluding the two research questions and presenting three different but in fact not so different views on the development of engangement of the European Union in southeastern europe shall then lead into a conclusion dealing with the question wether or not the CFSP and its initiatives can be a tool to improve the position of the EU in the world context and as a regional actor.