Political and Security Committee

The Political and Security Committee ( short PSK until 1999: Political Committee, briefly PK or POCO, French acronym COPS frequently - used ) is a body of the European Union, where once a month, senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs or the Permanent Representations of the Member States meeting in Brussels. Under Article 38 of the EU Treaty, the PSC supports the Common Foreign and Security Policy ( CFSP ) of the European Union. It monitors the international situation in the field of foreign and security policy and sets its own initiative or on request opinions to the Council of the EU. Also, the panel with the control and lines of crisis management operations can be commissioned. The German representative in the PSC is currently Ambassador Johannes Haindl. The Austrian representative in the PSC is currently Ambassador Alexander Marschik.

The Political Committee until 1999 (PK)

The establishment of a Political Committee was first foreseen in the Davignon report, 1970 the beginning of the European Political Cooperation (EPC ) - formed - that is, the coordination of the foreign policy of the EC Member States. The PK should serve as a hinge between the policy level and the groups of experts in the field of foreign policy. It gathered the Political Directors, that is, the head of the political departments of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Member States and the Director-General of the Commission for External Relations Political or another of the four relevant Directors-General.

The activity of the Political Committee was to coordinate the EPZ activities and to monitor and prepare the meetings of the Council of Ministers. From the provided four meetings per year were more quickly; least, a monthly rhythm formed (except the holiday month of August) out of the meetings. There were emergency meetings that could be convened within 48 hours (Part II, paragraph 13 of the report of the London 1981). However, the Political Committee was adopted with article 30, paragraph 10c of the Single European Act in the treaty of the European Communities in 1986.

The Political and Security Committee (PSC ) since 1999

In the later treaty reforms of the European Union, the Political Committee was enshrined in the EU Treaty, in which the European political cooperation has now been extended to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). By the Treaty of Amsterdam, which was completed in 1997 and 1999 came into force, and the PK received new tasks and has now been renamed the Political and Security Committee. Finally, the Treaty of Nice, it received its still valid today

The new provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty, the members of the PSC were initially not explicitly mentioned. Thus, the Political Directors of the Foreign Ministries should be relieved and may be represented in routine questions from other officials. However, the text of the treaty was also initially open whether it is. Among the deputies to officials from the foreign ministries of the main cities or to members of the Permanent Representations of the Member States in Brussels This ambiguity is also due to the disunity of the governments lead back: While strictly intergovernmental oriented governments rather in favor of the appointment of members of the foreign ministries, supported the community more open countries an appreciation of the Standing messages, so a greater proximity to the EU institutions and overall coherence and to enable continuity. The Treaty of Nice of 2000, finally, the second group was by; it was determined that the members of the PSC are made of high officials or ambassadors of the EU countries, which are located at the Permanent Representations.

The PSC thus consists of two formations: first, the deputy composition or "Brussels Formation", which is composed of senior officials or ambassadors and has been meeting for the Swedish EU Presidency in the first half of 2001, twice a week in Brussels ( with additional meetings if necessary ); secondly, the "capital composition ," in which - as before in the PK - gather the political directors of the foreign ministries of the Member States. In this capital composition currently two to four meetings per semester will take place, and there are also voting in smaller circles.

Between these two formations there is no clear division of labor. In political practice, the Brussels Formation preoccupied with routine matters, while the Political Directors to focus on the core issues of the CFSP. In the hierarchy of individual foreign ministries, representatives of the PSC are under the Brussels composition of both the Political Director and the Permanent Representative of the Government. For the preparation of meetings of the PSC Nikolaidis group is (similar to the Mertens or antici - group in Coreper ).

The Chair of the PSC lies since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty is no longer in the changing every six months presidency, but with a representative of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Tasks of the PSC

The tasks are:

In point 1), the responsibilities of the PSC overlap with those of the Committee of Permanent Representatives ( COREPER), which will meet the head of the Permanent Representations of the EU Member States for the preparation of Council meetings. During the time of European Political Cooperation, a division of labor was established, after the Ministerial Council were prepared on the subject of foreign policy by the PSC and to the general affairs of the EC of COREPER. But even here there were inconsistencies and contradictions. Through the EU Treaty COREPER eventually should be responsible for the preparation of the common foreign and security policy from 1992, which led to further conflicts of jurisdiction in the preparation of the Council for General Affairs and External Relations meetings.

Only after several attempts, the division of tasks between the PSC and COREPER could be determined concretely, 1993: The PSC retained its special role, but she has to share with COREPER to ensure a single institutional framework. However, this influence winning the Permanent Representations did not meet your agreement especially for the Political Directors.

The tasks 4 ) and 5) of the PSC have been arrested by contract only in the Treaty of Nice in 2000. They represent an extended scope by the PSC in the event of a crisis can take over management and control tasks. The background to this is the development of a common European security and defense policy, in which the PSC will act as lead authority over other military bodies. However, the crisis powers of the PSC of an express authorization by the Council of the EU, which remains the most important decision-making body require.

Formations

In the administrative machinery of the European Union, the PSC is particularly active in the following areas:

• In the military committee of the EU ( EUMC), through which a connection to the guide rod is made ​​(EUMS ) and the EU's CSDP operations
• On the committee, which is responsible for the Civil Aspects of Crisis Management ( CivCom ), which is particularly located on the posting of non-military Forces outside the EU decides areas ( police, customs, civil protection forces, etc. )

The representative of the EU Member States on the PSC is guaranteed by the following bodies:

• RELEX group in which 27 foreign policy adviser to the Permanent Representatives gathered in the EU
• The geographically - arranged working groups, in which the Permanent Representatives in Brussels or the capital representatives are gathered. These groups decide in cooperation with the European Commission over civil and military affairs in the fields of the first column or the so - called " merged titles" ( primarily Development Cooperation):

• The independent research groups of the PSC include: