After the Applause Stops: Nice's Aftermath and the Prospects for CESDP 1

[From the Introduction]. It was generally acknowledged that one of the more successful outcomes of the French Presidency and the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) was the progress made on the Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESDP). The French Presidency can of course claim some of the credit for advancing CESDP, but it really represents the cumulative efforts of the EU Member States and four presidencies since the historic Anglo-French St Malo summit of December 1998 set the ball rolling. But, contrary to some of the laudatory comments, the outcome of the IGC and the French Presidency saw advances in non-military and military crisis management and not, as is sometimes claimed, defence. This is not just a semantic point since it is precisely in defence that progress has not been made and probably will not be for a while to come. A more accurate portrayal of progress to date might refer to the emergence of a European security policy (ESP) and no more.