The countries from Central and Eastern Europe

The cold war experiences and experiences in the immediate aftermath

of the cold war• Cold war experiences: communist political and economic

system; membership in the Warsaw pact; military forces designed for military operations of the Warsaw pact; defense policy at least in terms of procurement, tactics and strategy was very much under Soviet military control

• Post-cold war experiences/ a critical juncture:- Transition from a communist state to a democratic political

system; in all spheres of political system- Integration into the Euro-Atlantic community of states

(parallel processes of NATO and the EU integration)- Restructuring of the defense sector

The NATO accession process• NATO Enlargement Study 1995; political criteria for membership:

the candidate countries must have consolidated democratic systems, stable borders, with no pending regional conflicts, and democratic control over militaries.

• The Membership Action Plan project 1999- the military accession criteria encompass the ability of the accession states to make military contribution to the Alliance and their commitment to military reform that would aim at interoperability with NATO forces. It also marks a tendency of military services specialisation and individual contribution of the Allies.

• Civil-military relations• NATO’s post- cold war adaptation: the DCI (military capabilities

goals) and the financing of military sector

The EU accession

• The CFSP legal acquis

• The ESDP, the Helsinki Headline Goal and the Article 17 of the TEU obligations

• Commitment of military capabilities- ‘double hatted’ /committed to both NATO and the EU/, specialization, military spending; defense procurement policy

Approaches to European security

• Two-tier Europe - ‘enhanced cooperation’ on defense and military

matters- armaments, operations, common defense, etc.

- the role of the Presidency• Understanding of security: cross border trade,

national minorities treatment, visa regulations, energy and environmental issues

• Strong interest in the formulation of Union’s external policies, concerning EU’s new frontier

• No significant interests in the wider world

The post 9/11 experiences

• The Transatlantic rift- tipping the Union’s internal balance

• The Iraq crisis (2002-2003)

- The infra-European rift

- The voting in the UNSC

- The military operation and the post-conflict situation

• The Kyoto Protocol• The ICC