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Lancée en 1999 au Conseil européen de Cologne, la PESD est sans conteste l’une des plus rapides « success stories » de l’Union européenne...

L'Europe a donc un Traité constitutionnel. Les 25 chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement ont finalement accompli cette prouesse de s’entendre – même au rabais – sur ce qui les divise le plus : la répartition des pouvoirs au sein de l’ensemble européen. Mais l’Europe n’a pas d’électeurs : les taux records d’abstention aux élections européennes du 13 juin jettent donc sur cette victoire diplomatique une ombre tout aussi indéniable.

One year after the war in Iraq, the EU is still confronted with two major challenges. The first is in Iraq itself, where the US strategy of stabilisation and democratisation is encountering dramatic setbacks. The second challenge arises from the growing terrorist threat to Western interests and citizens, as seen in the terrible attacks in Madrid on 11 March.

Under the aegis of Javier Solana, the recent infighting among the twenty-five over America’s strategy of pre-emptive action, the legality of the use of force and military intervention in Iraq has been transformed, in the space of a few months and a few pages of text, into a truly common European vision of the world and the Union’s role in it.

Three paradoxes characterise the Union’s attitude to the rest of the world. The first is typical of post-Cold War realities: with very few exceptions, it is now much easier for the Europeans to agree a view on external crises than on American policy.