Un monde sans Europe? (A World without Europe?)

Citation

Richardson, J. (2012), "Un monde sans Europe? (A World without Europe?)", Foresight, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 434-434. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636681211277915

France's Economic Council for Defense (CED) has published its second volume dedicated to the question of where do Europe's foreign and defense policies stand in today's fast‐shifting world1. In the 1950s the global population numbered some 2 billion human beings; the Old Continent comprised 15 percent of all peoples. By 2050 and a United Nations‐projected world census of 9.3 billion, Europeans will represent only 5 percent of humanity. This “Malthusian reduction”, as the book terms it, should be matched by an expected, concurrent reduction in the Russian and Japanese populations. The authors thus worry about the various critical pressures acting on Europe tomorrow as well as today – especially if Europe should continue to play an enigmatic role on the world scene.

Three principal problem areas beset today's European Union. The most pressing at the moment is the vulnerability and even continued existence of the euro currency. Next is the problem of immigration and consequent employment stability “at home”, seemingly hard to control because of the Schengen Implementation of 1990 – virtually eliminating barriers to movement among the Union's member populations. The third, and the matter of most interest in this book, is the continuing feebleness of common foreign and security policies.

The volume has, after an introduction by the eminent political scientist Pierre Hassner, five chapters analyzing competing threats to Europe's stability and a round‐up chapter proposing the optimum to respond protectively to these dangers. Although today the EU leaves to its 27 member‐states the authority to decide on their respective foreign and defense strategies, the Union may speak as a whole through its Common Foreign and Security Policy. This means that the EU can respond to a crisis “proactively” through a civil‐military mix of actions combining conflict management with crisis handling. The recent Libyan episode, operating through the agency of NATO, exemplifies this sort of emergency:

The Treaty of Lisbon of December 2009[…] authorized activities including “joint disarmament operations, the provision of military advice and assistance […], a contribution to the fight against terrorism, in addition to traditional humanitarian and relief work, peacekeeping and post‐conflict stabilization, and the use of combat forces in crisis management” (eufocus, September 2011, p. 1).

The authors of this book are French and have called on a hundred compatriots and other Europeans representing business and the economy, academia, parliamentarians and senior civil servants, the military, and private citizens. They seek to foresee what a world without Europe could prove to be, urging all the EU's members to focus on formulating a common defensive posture as well as a coherent attitude concerning foreign relations and foreign aid. In the arena of a common defensive structure, the book's experts state the need for the proper equipping of a “knowledge/anticipation mission” in space. They urge expanded use of drones for reconnaissance and action in the field, mid‐ and long‐range ballistic missiles “in order to respond to certain types of menace”, as well as a new concentration “by those who will and who can” on nuclear power for naval forces. The development of such capacities should include, furthermore, direct participation both materially and financially in NATO's anti‐missile defenses.

Notes

The first, Eurodéfense, pour une relance de l'Europe de la defense (Eurodefense, Relaunching the Defense of Europe), appeared in June 2009.