Security and defence at the European level continues
to be dominated by member states.
Arguably, national governments and national parliaments
will consider the decision to expend blood
and treasure as a matter predominantly for
national decision making. However, the European
Union (EU) has been an exercise in a new form of
sovereignty and decision making at the supranational
level. Even within, security and defence,
member states have come to align their policies and
modes of behaviour.
It is clear that even in security and defence
there has been some movement towards political
union. Jean Monnet –one of the founding architects
of the constitution of the EU– argued that
small steps in one field (albeit unrelated) create a
habit of rapprochement, consultation and coope -
ration that eventually spreads to the political
fields1. The Schuman Declaration (drafted by
Monnet) that brought the European Steel and
Community into effect posited that “Europe will
not be made all at once, or according to a single
plan. It will be built through concrete achievements
which first create a de facto solidarity.