Workshop Report : The individual between micro-security and macrο- security in European governance

«The Person in the present structure of the European regime of governance»

Dusan Sidjanski (Professor Emeritus, University of Geneva)

The European Integration as a means to secure a lasting peace between European nation-states was the underlying topic of the contribution to the Workshop made by Professor Emeritus Dusan Sidjanski.

According to Professor Sidjanski, the European Union, representative of a new type of federalism, not restricted to the economic field but also having a political dimension, is based both on the concept of fundamental rights which introduce the respect of the person in his interactions with other persons of a community as well as on the concept of European culture.

In his view, European culture means two complementary things: first of all, it implies the common values of the European political tradition and, as a consequence, the respect of the different/diverse values which exist in the European field (unity in diversity).

More specifically, European Integration is based on the following common principles: free evolutionary association (such as interest groups and political parties), the lack of hegemony, the Member States’ autonomy, a code of Justice which imposes rights and obligations, the intensity of communication between Member States and citizens. These principles are expected to bring about a shift of loyalties to the supranational (European) level (Ernst Haas), which will aggregate specific interests into one general European interest.

In his conclusion, Professor Sidjanski expressed his concern about low participation in European Parliament elections, because, according to the perception of European citizens, there is no direct connection between citizen vote and the result of the election. That is why the objective should be to build a new model of European society that will give great attention to the European dimension of knowledge and education.

«The evolution of CFSP and its changing concepts in terms of security»

Wolfgang Wessels (Professor, University of Cologne)

As the leading researcher of the University of Cologne for the CHALLENGE programme, Professor Wolfgang Wessels outlined the major themes underlying this research, giving emphasis on the conceptualization of the Common Foreign and Security Policy in its evolution.

Thus, attention was first drawn to the need to investigate the usage by European and national actors, of key terms, included, inter alia, in Treaty provisions, for political ends. In the pre-history of the CFSP (in the form of the European Political Community dating back to the 1970s), the term security was considered to be a «forbidden» word, and only through a gradual expansion (starting from its economic aspects) has it been included in the political discourse of CFSP actors. The same applies to defense, which might evolve from common defense policy to a common defense, but still does not include crucial aspects of classic territorial defense.

Professor Wessels went on to analyze the symbolic shift that has been made in the conceptualization of the vision and mission of Europe. In an academic context, the concept of «civilian power Europe», as a paradigmatic expression of multilateralism in international relations, has been suggested, as well as the similar concept of «normative power». Thus, Professor Wessels concluded by emphasizing the prospects of Europe as a «peace-bringing» power in the international arena, that uses non-military means to spread its paradigm of security community to the rest of the world.

Round Table Discussion

The contributions of the two distinguished guests of the University of Athens, intrigued the participants at the Workshop, who provided their own insights in the subsequent discussion.

Professor Nikos Scandamis, as the leading researcher of the University of Athens, pointed out that a major focus of investigation should be the conceptualization of macro-security and micro-security, as their strong interaction has emerged –both implicitly and explicitly- in practice and in academic debate. The European Union arguably emphasizes the importance of micro-security, with the Treaties functioning as an overarching «code of liberalism», and providing the normative parametes of such notions, as general/public interest, to act as a common denominator of policies. A point of concern, Professor Scandamis added, is how the problem of terrorism acts transversally to add to the perplexity of the relationship between macro-security and micro-security, something to which all participants agreed.

On his part, Dr. Kosmas Boskovits also highlighted the need for a clarification of the conceptual field covered by macro- and micro- security, as these concepts may be understood to reflect the relationship between either internal and external security, or economic and political security. At the European Union level, Dr. Boskovits pointed to the problems raised by the creation of the post of the Union Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the perplexity it adds to the current configuration of powers with regard to the management of macro- and micro-security, further discussing this issue with Professor Wessels.

PhD candidate Mr. Frantzis Sigalas referred to the emergence, in the European Union, apart from the citizen with primarily economic rights and the citizen with some initial political rights, of a citizen-soldier after the establishment of new networks, such as the FRONTEX agency, a mention which led Professor Wessels to point out the difference between the necessity and the legitimacy of such networks.

PhD Candidate Mr. Sofoklis Stratakis emphasized, on the one hand, and in relation to the conceptualization of Person in the European regime of governance, the need to safeguard the respect of the liberty and dignity of the Person, as anti-terrorist policies threaten to severely discriminate between European citizens and third-country immigrants in this respect. Furthermore, he stressed the close interaction between CFSP and Justice and Home Affairs, and that more research has to be conducted in this area.

(Athens, May 10, 2007)

See the announcement of the Conference