Edith Drieskens

Effective Multilateralism and Collective Security: Empowering the UN

[From the Introduction]. The European Security Strategy (ESS), the first ever common strategic document of the EU, adopted by the European Council in December 2003, accords a central place to the collective security system of the UN. The best way of summarizing the ESS is through ‘effective multilateralism’, the last of the three strategic objectives that the document outlines. ‘Effective multilateralism’, defined by the ESS as ‘the development of a stronger international society, well functioning international institutions and a rule-based international order’, concerns the global order, the world system itself. As such, it aims to address the long-term underlying factors determining peace and security (Biscop, 2005). At the same time the Strategy strongly stresses that for ‘international organisations, regimes and treaties to be effective’ the EU must be ‘ready to act when their rules are broken’. ‘Effective multilateralism’ thus appears to imply enforceable multilateralism. In the words of Christoph Heusgen (2004, p.7), Director of the Policy Unit of High Representative Javier Solana: ‘Military intervention, however, is only the last resort of EU policy’. The emphasis clearly is on long-term stabilization and on a gradual approach towards – emerging – crises putting to use the full range of instruments at the disposal of the EU.