4 - Managing transboundary crises
The gradual emergence of EU capacity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
Summary
The countries of Western Europe do face rather similar threats and quite a few of them have to be faced collectively.
(Lord Hannay of Chiswick, House of Lords 2011b: 218)I do not think that the Union has decided how it wants to manage its response to crises.
(William Shapcott, House of Lords 2011b: 16)Introduction: the prospect of transboundary crises
The previous chapters described how the EU has been building capacity to coordinate a joint response to overwhelmed member states and other disaster-stricken areas; moreover, they demonstrated a growing capacity to send civil–military missions to worldwide hot spots. This chapter focuses on a different type of crisis, one that affects multiple member states and, when left unaddressed, can threaten the political fabric of the European Union. This chapter documents the EU's efforts to deal with transboundary crises (Boin and Rhinard 2008).
These crises find their origin in the very essence of what the EU seeks to achieve. Since 1957, the European Union has prioritized the “four freedoms”: the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor across borders (Art. 12 EU Treaty). Physical and technical barriers were lowered, regulations were harmonized or made compatible, and critical infrastructures were tied together. In the 1980s, member states agreed to create a single economic market in Europe. The integration of Europe has made EU member states increasingly vulnerable to what could once be considered “foreign” or “local” problems in distant places (OECD 2003, 2011; Missiroli 2005; Sundelius 2005).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The European Union as Crisis ManagerPatterns and Prospects, pp. 100 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013