Stanowisko Parlamentu Europejskiego wobec Wspólnej Polityki Bezpieczeństwa i Obrony rozszerzonej UE
The position of the European Parliament on the Common Security and Defence Policy of the enlarged EU

Summary/Abstract: This paper outlines the position of the European Parliament on the development and top priorities of EU CSDP after the 2004 eastern enlargement. The issues the CSDP is concerned with are not typical integration concerns, constituting the core of sovereignty of nation-states which continue to be the most important entity in the EU integration process. This fact significantly affects the way the CSDP functions, as it continues to be a policy dominated by intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms. Therefore, the role of the EP in the shaping of the CSDPis limited and, in fact, does not extend beyond expressing non-binding opinions stipulated in resolutions. And yet, the resolutions regarding the CSDP adopted by the EP, though legally non-binding, do carry political significance. This results from the fact that the EP is the only supranational EU institution that provides for the Union’s democratic legitimacy, and is entitled to claim rights to exercise parliamentary control over the CSDP. Most importantly, at the core of the EU parliament’s position is the demand that the CSDP incorporates supranational mechanisms into its policy, which would ensure its ‘unionising’ in the future. However, the building of a uniform security and defence policy, propounded by the EP can be implemented only through the transformation of the EU into a structure with features of a federation.

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