Samenvatting

In the Netherlands, there have been many discussions about whether or not to establish a European Defence Organisation. However, due to the political party D66 (Democrats '66), this discussion has been revived in 2006 to such an extent that it really had an impact on political agendas of the Dutch political parties. D66 declared that a European Defence Organisation would increase the efficiency of European cooperation. This thesis inquires into the views of three political parties concerning the establishment of a European Defence Organisation: the PvdA as largest social democratic party, the CDA as largest confessional party and the VVD as largest liberal party. The central question is: "Do the PvdA, the CDA and the VVD consider a
European Defence Organisation as an addition to NATO, valuable and
necessary"?
The PvdA is a political party which is generally not in favour of the use of military force and military intervention, but in favour of international solidarity and diplomacy. Therefore, the PvdA sees executing humanitarian actions and peace keeping missions as NATO's core activity. The CDA is a political party which operates in the middle spectrum of political ideologies: religious involvement in social problems and the preservation of the Christian values. The Christian Democrats value Defence and believe that the government needs to invest in the Dutch armed forces. Moreover, the CDA likes to export peace and security beyond EU borders and sees NATO as EU's
security provider. The VVD is a political party where the liberal values of liberty, tolerance and responsibility are at the base of its existence. Moreover, the VVD likes to invest in NATO as EU's primary security provider, and feels that the European countries should share the defence burdens equally with NATO. In this scope, responsibility should also be shared and therefore, the EU should contribute with military operations, such as the EU Battle Groups missions (humanitarian, peacekeeping and security restoring
missions). Regarding the views on the Dutch defence policy, the PvdA, the CDA and the VVD share more similarities then differences. All three parties are against the creation of a European army for countries should not lose their sovereignty. In addition, the three parties express their wish for a more efficient defence policy, based on international cooperation. Furthermore, all three parties would like the Netherlands to share the defence burdens equally with NATO, although the PvdA states that NATO should not expect much from the Netherlands given its (small) size. In addition, all three parties feel that the EU Battle Groups (Helsinki Headline Goals)
should only operate on low risk missions. The VVD and the CDA would like the 'Defence expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product' to be raised to the NATO standard of 2%. By contrast, the PvdA does not see the need for this GDP increase. Furthermore, the CDA is, just like the VVD and the PvdA, convinced that the European Defence Agency can provide for European standardisations of military equipment and bring European defence industries together, which will lower the defence expenditures and prevent duplication. Within the VVD and PvdA, experts and Members of Parliament are divided about the question whether or not to install a European Defence Organisation with its own European army. Only within the CDA do all the experts and Members of Parliament agree with its defence policy. To continue, the VVD and the CDA agree that the EU must not develop into a federal super state. The CDA and the VVD consider NATO to be the most important organisation in the field of security and defence policy and they state that nothing should diminish this status. By contrast, the PvdA expressed to be in favour of European autonomy. To continue, the CDA and the VVD are in favour of increasing the defence budget of the Netherlands. By contrast, the PvdA does not favour an increase of the defence funds. The VVD and the CDA are not against the creation of a European Defence Organisation within NATO in order to gain more power within this organisation. In this way, European countries within NATO can form a European bloc. In addition, the VVD and the CDA see 'unanimity' within the EU decision-making process as the reason why a European Defence could never work: this has already been
proved during the Yugoslav conflicts.
To conclude: the PvdA, the CDA and the VVD do not consider a European
Defence Organisation as an addition to NATO valuable and necessary in the field of political ideology, finance, economics and ethics.