The Western European Union yesterday accepted that neutral and militarily non aligned states should have a role in the conflict prevention and crisis management tasks it takes on at the request of the European Union. This is an important development for the WEU and for this State, which is among its observer group. It is a building block towards a more coherent EU security policy. Whether it brings the EU closer to a common defence policy, and what the objectives, membership and parameters of such a policy ought to be are questions posed but not resolved by this decision.
The security tasks involved are defined in a much wider fashion than was the case during the Cold War. They include environmental and migration concerns drug trafficking and the economic causes of conflicts which affect nation states in a more interdependent world. Preventing them involves paying full attention to these deeper causes of conflict, using political and economic means rather than military or security ones. It also requires that United Nations mandates be obtained to legitimise these latter types of action when they are called for. The management of crises also draws on a wide range of techniques and assets, including many of the skills that have been built up, especially by neutral state's working through the United Nations peacekeeping forces.
The WEU's so called "Petersberg Tasks" dealing with such actions could now include contributions by, Irish military and police forces on a case by case basis after this decision. This is in line with the policy set out in the Government's White Paper on Foreign Policy. The WEU is an organic part of the EU's structures, but there is sharp disagreement over whether they should eventually merge. This pits the militarily non aligned states Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Austria with the Atlanticists who insist on a continuing role for the United States in European security and defence Britain, Denmark and Portugal against member states which argue for a more well defined European defence identity. The neutral reservation is only one source of this diversity, which means that the whole matter is most unlikely to be resolved in the Inter Governmental Conference.
But Ireland is not off the hook on the issue. It is essential, as the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has consistently argued, to participate fully in the debate about creating a new framework for European security and defence. Otherwise Ireland's own preferences, and those that share them, could be sidelined. Over the next week the Swedish foreign minister and the president of Finland will be visiting Dublin to outline their approaches to these questions and to seek support for the joint initiative their governments have taken on them. They propose that the WEU observers within the EU have full political rights to set the mandate for actions requested of the WEU this is designed to prevent the emergence of an inner core of states that would arrogate to themselves control of the EU's wider agenda. The initiative is worth careful scrutiny and broad support from the Government. It is fully consistent with yesterday's decision by the WEU.
Those who oppose closer Irish involvement along these lines, notably Fianna Fail, must explain what alternatives there are for effective participation in European security structures, and whether Ireland should risk marginalising other central interests by abstaining from such solidarity.