With A Little Help From My Friend ­

Foreign and Security Policy of the EU

and the USA in Kosovo

Bachelor-Arbeit im Bachelorstudiengang

Europäische Studien

der Universität Osnabrück

Vorgelegt am 25. November 2008

von Sonja Blum

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Table of Content

Abbreviations 1

1. Introduction 2

2. Capability-Expectations Gap: The Hill-Ginsberg Approach 4

3. History of the Kosovo Conflict 8

4. Foreign and Security Policy of the EU in Kosovo 10

4.1.

EU′s Interest in Kosovo 11

4.2.

EU′s Interventions in Kosovo 13

4.3.

Evaluation of EU Actions 15

5. Needing the Help of a Friend ­ The US engages in Kosovo 18

5.1.

Transatlantic Relationship 18

5.1.1.

The EU′

s Assessment of the Transatlantic Relations 20

5.1.2.

The US′

Assessment of the Transatlantic Relations 21

5.1.3.

Iraq War as Crisis and Catalyst 24

5.2.

US Interest for Intervention in Kosovo 27

5.3.

Interventions of the Transatlantic Community 28

5.4.

Evaluation of the Transatlantic Interventions 32

6. Conclusion 35

Bibliography 37

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Sonja Blum ­ Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

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Abbreviations

CEG

Capacity-Expectations Gap

CFSP

EU Common Foreign and Security Policy

EC

European Community

EFP

European Foreign Policy

ESDP

European Security and Defense Policy

ESS

European Security Strategy

EU

European Union

EUSR

European Union Special Representative

ICO

International Civilian Office

ICO-PT

International Civilian Office-Planning Team

KFOR

Kosovo Force

KLA

Kosovo Liberation Army

NTA

New Transatlantic Agenda

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NSS

National Security Strategy of the United States of America

OSCE

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

SAP

Stabilization- and Association Process

UN

United Nations

UNMIK

United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

UNSCR

United Nations Security Council Resolution

USA

United States of America

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Sonja Blum ­ Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

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With A Little Help From My Friend ­

Foreign and Security Policy

of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

1. Introduction

The Western Balkans, and in particular Kosovo, constitute an interesting area of

study in the field political science and international relations in that, it not only brings

into focus the development and evolution of the European Union (EU) since its

inception, but also offers to define the transatlantic relationship between the European

Union and the United States of America (USA). The Kosovo Conflict and the

surrounding events throughout the Balkans have repeatedly demonstrated that the

European Union still lacks the political, judicial and military competencies in its

collective approaches to security and foreign policy. Since its inception, the EU had

been, and continues to be greatly dependent on its partner and ally, the United States.

Hence, the EU was characterized with the Capability-Expectations Gap (CEP), stating

that the international environment and the EU itself expect higher outcomes than it is

actually capable of delivering. Consequently, the incidents within mainland Europe were

accompanied by continuous efforts to improve their Common Foreign and Security

Policy (CFSP). During the course of this paper I would like bring into view an objective

assessment, in the application of the European Union′

s collective approach to regional

and international security, and the outreach of its common foreign policy objectives.

The European Union and the United States are significant international actors that in

principle represent similar Western values and norms, and their relationship "is arguably

the most important geopolitical relationship in the world."1 However, their diverging

views on the social justice, political ideology, wider conduct of society towards the rest

of the world and on responses towards threats and crises as well as the competition on

the global financial markets arises the suspicion if "the EU and US are actually friends

or rivals."2

1 Cameron, Fraser. "Transatlantic Relations." In An Introduction to European Foreign Policy, by Fraser

Cameron, 90-106. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2007, p. 90

2 ibid, p. 90

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Sonja Blum ­ Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

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Hence, in the course of this paper I would like to find out whether the presence and

involvement of the EU and the US in Kosovo, is simply a method to impose stability and

increase security in the region, whether a larger picture is emerging regarding the

geopolitical positioning of both entities in Kosovo, or if their interventions are based on

a well-functioning and genuine transatlantic cooperation which results in a successful

outcome. Furthermore, the questions arise as to whether or not the EU will manage to

close the Capability-Expectations Gap through its interventions in Kosovo and if it will

finally establish itself as a coordinated institution that is capable of acting independently.

And, if this would be the case, what notable developments would occur in EU-US

relations? Would the perceptions of the developing world change significantly towards a

friendlier and cooperative EU, and would the US′

s view on the future interoperability

with the EU come under more scrutiny?

In order to approach an answer to these questions I will first of all focus on the

Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, its interventions in Kosovo and the evaluation of

the same. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said: "In politics, nothing happens by

accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."3 Therefore, I would like to

point out the reasons why the European Union and the United States chose to engage in

Kosovo. Whereas it might be quite obvious for the EU to be interested in a stable

Kosovo, the US has far more complex reasons for its involvements in European soil.

An insight into the complexity surrounding transatlantic relations would require

taking note of the long and important history between the European Union and the

United States. After all, the US has served as a guarantor of security and stability in

Europe ever since the foundation of the European Community of Coal and Steel. In

order to better comprehend and analyze the relationship between the partners, one has to

examine how they perceive each other. More importantly, one cannot neglect the single

incident which has deeply ruptured this relationship: the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Not

only is this important in regard of the transatlantic relationship but also because of its

direct and indirect to the European Common and Security Policy.

3 Franklin D. Roosevelt. Quote taken from BrainyQuote.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes.

2008.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/franklin_d_roosevelt.html (accessed November 13, 2008).

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Sonja Blum ­ Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

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When examining the transatlantic relations it is also important to contemplate what

the EU needs for security-political capabilities to act when necessary.4 Before such an

intervention as the invasion of another country for humanitarian purposes or for regional

security purposes, both partners face the significant dilemma of political persuasion:

they are either being defamed as Imperialists or reproached with indifference.5 I am

going to offer a summary and an evaluation of the interventions of the Transatlantic

Community in Kosovo and their greater political culminations. This evaluation then

leads me back to the Capability-Expectations Gap approach which then will hopefully

help to draw a conclusion concerning a possible redefinition of the relationship between

the European Union and the United States of America through its intervention in

Kosovo.

2. Capability-Expectations Gap: The Hill-Ginsberg Approach

There are various theories and approaches within the general context of international

relations, and within the specific conduct and application of the European Union′

s

Common Foreign and Security Policy and its effectiveness. For example, the argument

behind an interventionist and assertive policy in a changing security and political

landscape is often balanced out with the inability within the EU membership to find

common ground relative to each individual Member State′

s national interests. Also, the

clash of idealistic perceptions emanating from the other side of the Atlantic and the

worldview of the United States is often at odds with a more pragmatic approach adopted

by a majority of EU countries. This really signifies the subtle problems which have

dogged the study of European international relations in the past century, originating

from the Wilsonian Doctrine at the end of World War I to the perception of potential

idealism seen through the prism of a dominant and unilateral United States foreign

policy today.

4 cf. Frank, Johann, and Gustav E. Gustenau. "Comparison of European and US Policies for Safeguarding

external Security." In Europe - USA: Diverging Partners, by Gustav E. Gustenau, Otmar Höll and Thomas

Nowotny (Eds.), 307-360. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006, p. 320

5 cf. Young, David. "Kosovo: It IS a Real Geopolitical Precedent." European Affairs. Winter/Spring 2008.

http://www.europeanaffairs.org/current_issue/2008_winter_spring/2008_winter_spring_12.php4 (accessed

July 17, 2008), p. 4

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Sonja Blum ­ Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the USA in Kosovo

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Furthermore, many theories (e.g. Keohane, Hoffmann, Moravcsik) do "not promise

to translate well into the foreign policy field, where past trauma, common values,

institutional evolution and ideological earthquakes are more likely to provide convincing

explanations of the changing patterns of diplomacy."6 However, in my opinion the

relatively young Capacity-Expectations Gap (CEG) approach from 1993 by Christopher

Hill is the most appropriate one to analyze the relationship of the EU and the US, and

the most profound one to demonstrate a degree of evolution. The approach focuses on

the expectations towards the EU from other state actors as well as what the EU expects

from itself and its capabilities in the international domain. As such, the self-explanatory

question is `

how is the European Union perceived as a responsible international actor?′

.

Within the scope of the working title one can see this approach from different angles and

therefore analyze how each actor envisages themselves especially on the question of

Kosovo and the underlying history and the origins of the Balkans which have governed

the transatlantic relations for the past twenty years.

But let me start by summarizing the main arguments from Christopher Hill′

s essay

"The Capability-Expectation Gap, or Conceptualizing Europe′

s International Role".

First of all, one has to be aware of the fact that all actions by the state or union are

limited by the capacity laid down in the constitution ­ or contracts in the EU′s case ­

itself. As the system of the EU is described as

sui generis

, it is quite difficult for the

Union to act as it would like to. With the US being a federal state and with the president

having the last word on actions, it is able to act fast and coherent.

Consequently, Christopher Hill states that the European failure over the Yugoslavian

Wars in the early 1990s has shown that "the Community is not an effective international

actor, in terms both of its capacity to produce collective decisions and its impact on

events."7 However, the EC might not have been an effective actor on the world stage at

the time of his article but it already possessed ­ if also limited ­

actorness

and an

international presence.8

6 Hill, Christopher. "The Capability-Expectations Gap, or Conceptualizing Europe′s International Role."

Journal of Common Market Studies

, September 1993, p. 308

7 ibid., p. 306

8 cf. ibid., pp. 308ff.

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