EU View: "Technology alone cannot guarantee security, but security without technology is impossible”

The GSC team just came back from a trip to Brussels where we met with leaders of the European Commission, The European Council and European Defence Agency. We will report on a few insights about how the EU has positioned itself in terms of security and anti-terrorism. Today’s blog is about how the EU Parliament is structured to deal with security and defence issues and where any technology aspects lie within:

European Security Defence Policy (ESDP)
The idea of a common European security and defence policy mirrors the development of the Union itself as it evolved from a purely economic union to a more political union. In the Maastricht treaty of 1993, the EU incorporated the objective of a "common foreign policy", which expanded to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union. In 2003, the EU adopted a common European Security Strategy (ESS) that identified five key threats to the future security and stability of the EU: terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflict, state failure and organised crime.

Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE)
The European Security Defence Policy falls under the responsibilities of the EU Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. Specifically, a Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) deals with the areas of defence and security matters, which is currently chaired by Karl von Wogau. He argues the reason why 69% of the European public is largely supporting a common European security policy “is because they are aware that they all face the same threats, such as terrorism, organised crime or regional conflicts, and they feel that the answer can only be a European one.“ (click here for his full remarks)

However, Mr. von Wogau is unhappy how the ESDP is administered and controlled. Currently all military operations are exluded from EU budgetary control and thus limit the classic parliamentary control over the executive branch. He said in the ESDP Newsletter: “this situation is not satisfactory as one should bear in mind that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between civilian and military expenditures when the EU carries out crisis management operations which make use of both civilian and military instruments. Furthermore, the principle of “costs lie where they fall” is not fair, because the EU countries are not put on an equal footing as far as military operations are concerned: some countries are willing to participate but cannot really deliver, while others are not willing at all.“ (quote)

The Role of Technology in the EU’s Security Policy?
There is a great quote by the former European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin about how security policy and technology has to interact in order to work. In 2004, he summaried that relationship succinctly by saying: “Technology alone cannot guarantee security, but security without technology is impossible.”