The Challenge of Security Governance in Europe

Europe
consists of fifty sovereign states. The European Union (EU) is the most
prominent economic and social cooperation in the region. A total of 28
countries in Europe make up the EU. To deal with the security issues in the
region, the EU has come up with a number of strategies and policies. Key among
them is the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) that guides the union’s
diplomatic, defense, and security actions.

To safeguard their security, European nations have also cooperated with other nations and organizations. Considering that a majority of the European nations were part of the Western Bloc during the Cold war, they depended heavily on the US for their security. NATO has also been a key strategic partner to the EU when it comes to matters security. Until 1999, the organization handled all security matters affecting the European Union. However, the EU took over from NATO after 1999. However, both the EU and NATO have continued to cooperate.

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NATO
and the EU share majority of their member states. A total of 24 NATO member
states are also members of the EU. Only 4 members of NATO are not members of
the EU and vice versa. This has made it easy for the two organizations to
cooperate in security matters.

Europe has in the past faced a number of security threats. Key among them were a terrorism and increased aggression by Russia in the region. There also a wide range of emerging security threats in the region. They include immigration, ISIS, cyber-crime, and a weakening NATO. Better collaboration between the EU and NATO is needed if the region is to remain secure.

Abbreviations

EU = European
Union

GDP = Gross
Domestic Product

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CFSP = Common
Foreign and Security Policy

NATO = North
Atlantic Treaty Organization

OSCE = Organization
for Security and Co-operation in Europe

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UNSC = United
Nations Security Council

ESDP = European
Security and Defense Policy

ISIS = Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant

Section 1:
Introduction

Europe is a continent consisting of a total of fifty sovereign states. Cumulatively, the region has a total population of an estimated 740 million people (Lazaridis, 2016). The European Union (EU) is the most vocal and active economic and political union within the Europe. As can be seen in table 1, it consists of a total of 28 countries and represents an estimated 510 million people. At the present, it is the largest and most diverse economy globally, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of an estimated $ 16.477 trillion. This is approximately 22.2 percent of the world’s total GDP. The EU has also been at the forefront when it comes to the issue of security governance. The union maintains a common security policy.

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The
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was developed by the EU with to guide
the diplomatic, defense, and security actions of its member states. Traditionally,
the CFSP considered the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to be
responsible for Europe’s reconciliation and defense. However, the situation
changed in 1999 with the EU taking over the policing of agreements and treaties
as well as the implementation of peacekeeping missions (Lazaridis, 2016).

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also played a major role in security governance within Europe. Table 2 illustrates that all EU member nations are also members of OSCE. It is the world’s largest intergovernmental organization that focuses primarily on security matters. At the present, the OSCE is composed of 57 member states from Europe, North America, as well as Central and Northern Asia (Massart, 2017). The body has a number of mandates which include controlling arms sales and movement.  It also seeks to promote elections that are free and fair, press freedom, as well as respect for human rights.

Section 2: How
Security Governance in Europe has changed since the End of the Cold War

Security
governance in Europe has evolved over the years to meet the regions ever
changing needs. Traditionally, America and Russia played an active role in
influencing security policies throughout Europe. This was especially the case
during the cold war when European nations aligned themselves to the Eastern and
Western Blocs. The Eastern Bloc was constituted of the Soviet Union and it
satellite states such as Cuba and North Korea. The Western Bloc on the other
hand was mainly made up of United States of America and its NATO allies (Lazaridis, 2016). It is worth noting that a majority
of European countries were NATO member states. As such, they mainly depended on
the United States of America for security during and immediately after the Cold
War era.

With
the end of the cold war, European nations sought to take more control of their
own security. They sought to move away from depending on the United States to
having their own security policies and strategies. Until 1999, the region
depended on NATO for security and defense (Sperling
and Webber, 2014). The trend however changed in 1999 when the EU took
over security matters affecting member states. Subsequently, it came up with
the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) that guided their interaction
between the member states and other parties in matters security, defense and
diplomacy (Massart, 2017). However, NATO has
continued to play a major role in the governance of security in the region
especially in matters defense. At the same time, most European states have
continued to be members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE). However, EU policies are binding for all member states and
override those of the other organizations.

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Section 3: Current Structure of the
European Union (EU)

The
EU has seven key institutions that assist in policy making and implementation. The
European council is the top-most institution within the EU. It consists of both
the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission as well as
all the heads of state and government in all the EU member countries (Council
of the European Union, 2011). Both the presidents of the European Council and
the European Commission have no vote. The council is based in Brussels, Belgium
and is charged with the responsibility of setting EU’s general priorities and
goals. Although the council does not legislate, it gives the EU the much needed
political impetus.

The
Council of the European Union is a legislative institution within the EU. It is
charged with the responsibility of coordination EU’s social and economic
policies as they are stipulated in the Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP). The institution works hand in hand with the European Parliament with
which it shares budgetary powers (Council of the European Union, 2011). It is
also responsible for concluding any international treaties and agreements the
EU is party to.

The
European parliament plays a legislative role within the EU. Together with the Council
of the European Union, the European parliament forms the EU’s legislature. It
also shares budgetary powers with the council of the European Union (Lazaridis, 2016). It wields democratic control over
other institutions within the EU such as the European Commission. For examples,
it approves members to the commission.

The
European commission is EU’s executive branch. It is charged with the
responsibility of submitting proposals for any new legislation to both the
council and the legislature. The institution also administers the EU’s budget
and implements the body’s policies. It ensures that all member states honor
treaties and agreements and at the same time comply with the European law. The
commission also negotiates on behalf of the EU in international agreements (Lazaridis, 2016).

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The
Court of Justice of the European Union has is based in Luxembourg and is
charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the European Law is interpreted
and applied uniformly across all member states (Lazaridis,
2016). It has powers to rule on disputes between individuals, businesses,
institutions, as well as EU member states.

The
European Central Bank works in collaboration with the national central banks of
the EU member states. Together, they form the European System of Central Banks
(Sperling and Webber, 2014). They come up with
monetary policies and exercise control over the supply of money.

European Court of Auditors ensures that the budget is implemented in the right manner. It is an independent institution that seeks to provide oversight over the utilization of resources within the EU.

Section 4: Relationship between the
European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance
constitution of 28 sovereign states. Members to the alliance have agreed to
mutual collaboration and defense in the event of aggression by an external
party. It is worth noting that three of NATO members are also permanent members
of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Subsequently, they have veto
powers and are for this reason able to influence international security
policies (Lazaridis, 2016). These include the
United Kingdom, the United States of America, as well as France.

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NATO and the EU share common strategic interests. The two organizations cooperate in matters of security, political consultation, capacity development, as well as crisis management. It is worth noting that both NATO and the EU share majority of their members (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017a). It is worth noting that 24 of the 28 members of NATO are also members of the EU. This means that only 4 members of the NATO are not members of the EU. At the same time, only 4 members of the EU are not members of NATO.

Section 5: How the European Union (EU) and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Programmes of Expansion have
contributed to European Security

The
EU and NATO programmes
of expansion have had a major contribution to European security. The two
organizations launched institutionalized relations in 2001. This was a product
of the steps undertaken throughout the 1990s between the two organizations with
the aim of improving defense matters throughout Europe (Lazaridis, 2016). The result was the formation of the NATO-Western
European Union cooperation in 2001.

In
2002, the two organizations declared the European Security and Defense Policy
(ESDP). Its purpose was to reaffirm relations between NATO and the EU. Both
parties would going forward share their defense planning and capabilities (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017). The 2003
Berlin Plus engagements set out the arrangements whereby the EU would lead its
operations without having to engage NATO as a whole.

The 2010, Lisbon summit came up with resolutions to improve NATO-EU cooperation. It was agreed that the two organizations would cooperate in matters of conflict management, stabilization of situations in the post-conflict period, and crisis prevention (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017a).

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Section 6: Problems and New Security
Threats Europe Faces

There
are a wide range of security problems that affect Europe. Terrorism has been
for years been the main security challenge facing the region. Unlike other
forms of security risks, terrorism is harder to predict. The proximity of the EU
to the Middle East and some volatile regions of Northern Africa such as Libya
have made it more susceptible to terror attacks. NATO’s intervention in the
Libyan crisis has for instance made Europe a major target by terror cells in
both Libya and the Middle East (Lazaridis, 2016).
The intelligence services of the EU have done a poor Job when it comes to
sharing intelligence regarding terrorism. Traditionally, terrorist activities
used to be perpetrated by foreigners who held different political and religious
ideologies. In recent times, domestic terrorism perpetrated by European nationals
has also become a reality. Increased Russian aggression especially towards
Ukraine also threatens peace and security in the region.

There
has also been an upsurge of security threats in Europe. Key among them is the
weakening of the EU. Member countries have gradually formed a habit of ignoring
directives by the organization. Such activities are likely to undermine the powers
of the organization in the future and hamper its efforts to promote security in
the region. Britain’s Brexit from the EU also weakens the EU (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017b). With the
exit of Britain from the EU, the organization will not only lose a permanent
member of the UNSC but also a strategic NATO member. The proposal of the US
president Donald Trump to cut his country’s funding to NATO also threatens the
security of the EU. The United States has for decades been the greatest source
of funding to NATO. In the event that the proposal is to be implemented, the ability
of Europe to protect itself through NATO is likely to be greatly undermined.

Europe also has to deal with the immigrant issue. Conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq have led in the massive displacement of populations. Many of these refugees have made their way to Europe as a result of its close proximity to the war-torn regions. It is estimated that about 1.8 immigrants entered the region without following the proper legal channels in 2015. An additional 980,000 have applied for asylum to the EU (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017b). Some of these Immigrants have been linked to the latest wave of terrorist activities throughout Europe.

The
proliferation of ISIS is also a major emerging security challenge facing
Europe. The terrorist organization has resulted to recruiting sympathizers from
EU member countries. Efforts by Russian, US, Arab, and European forces to put
to an end the ISIS menace has resulted in the group becoming more aggressive (Friedman and Shapiro, 2017). By entrenching itself
in the borders of European countries, ISIS has succeeded in keeping European
countries occupied. Cyber-crime is also another growing security challenge in
the region (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017b).
European countries have lost billions of dollars in cyber-attacks mainly
perpetrated by ISIS. This money has then been used to fund terrorist activities
within Europe.

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Section 7: How the European Union (EU) and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have addressed Security Problems
and New Security Threats Europe Faces

Both NATO and the EU have made attempts to deal with both the existing as well as the emerging security threats in Europe. The NATO Warsaw summit held in July 2016 explored measures that would help the region better deal with hybrid security threats. The summit focused on issues of cyber defense, defense capacity building, and maritime security. Discussions were also held on how to improve security through defense capacity building and joint defense exercises. Over 40 measures to measures proposed to improve cooperation between the EU and NATO during the conference were approved in December 2016 by NATO foreign ministers (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2017a). It is expected that going forward, both NATO and the EU are going to continue cooperating in matters security.

Section 8: Tables

Table 1: EU Member Countries

Table 2: Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe Member Countries.

Section 9: Bibliography

1. Council of the European
   Union (2011). Security Committee. Accessed
   14.04.17 at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/preparatory-bodies/security-committee/
2. Massart, P (2017) A European
   Security Council based on the U.S. model could do wonders for the development
   of a European strategic community beyond the policy wonks in the Brussels
   bubble. Accessed 14.04.17 at: http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/68168.
3. North Atlantic
   Treaty Organization (2017a). Relations
   with the European Union. Accessed 14.04.17 at: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49217.htm
4. North
   Atlantic Treaty Organization (2017b). Current
   security challenges and the role of NATO and the European Union. Accessed
   14.04.17 at: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_124128.htm?selectedLocale=en.
5. Friedman, G., and Shapiro, J.L. (2017). 3 issues that will lead to
   trouble in Europe in 2017. Accessed 14.04.17 at: http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-3-main-issues-for-europe-in-2017-2017-1?IR=T.
6. Lazaridis, G., (2016). Security,
   insecurity and migration in Europe. London, UK: Routledge.
7. Sperling, J. and Webber, M., 2014. Security governance in Europe:
   a return to system. European security, vol. 23 (2), pp.126-144.