---

Ukraine forces EU to ‘confront hard-power issues’

The Ukraine crisis is a pivotal moment, testing the EU's constitution and its role as a peace project, the launch of DCU Full Professor of European Law Professor Federico Fabbrini’s latest book has heard.

The launch of ‘The EU constitution in a time of war: Legal responses to Russia's aggression against Ukraine’ heard from former prime minister Guiliano Amato of Italy and Wolfgang Schussel, ex-Chancellor of Austria (1 April).

DCU President Daire Keogh said that Fabbrini had produced ten books in ten years with Oxford University Press and has been widely recognised for his contribution to European scholarship.

The book took on one of the greatest challenges to date facing Europe – the war in Ukraine, Prof Keogh said.

The Ukraine crisis had revitalised the EU enlargement process, which had gained momentum from Russia's aggression, Guiliano Amato commented.

The EU countries are also working more closely because of the military action, with even sceptical EU member states, such as Hungary, agreeing on key points.

Europe's peace dividend was coming to an end, however, the book launch heard.

This dividend had led to a significant reduction in defence and armaments budgets since the end of the Cold War.

Efforts

Amato said that the book analysed the EU’s military, financial and diplomatic efforts in support of Ukraine, highlighting the flexible use of treaty clauses in adapting to the special context of war, despite their original aims.

Key challenges included the need to overcome the unanimity requirement in military decisions and the lack of central fiscal capacity, he added, suggesting reforms to enhance defence capability while integrating national resources within NATO.

Former PM Guiliano Amato also suggested that the EU needed a central fiscal capacity to support military missions, as article 312 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU did not include this.

The book discusses the EU treaties as a form of constitution, and describes their missions as common defence, general welfare, justice, domestic tranquility, and the blessing of liberty.

The book also examines the public goods identified in the preamble.

The treaty clauses had been flexible in their use, and nobody had challenged this kind of use, Amato said.

Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel said that sanctions against Russia had been ineffective, suggesting lifting the ban on using the EU budget for defence.

Schussel said that the EU budget should increase beyond the current 1% of national budgets, to cover the needs of enlargement and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

He also suggested the idea of restricting the size of the European Commission to two-thirds of the members states, as previously agreed.

However, he expressed caution about the EU ‘debt addiction’ and stressed the need for a balanced enlargement process.

Schussel said that there should be a balance between unanimity and majoritarian voting, suggesting ‘opting out’ as the solution.

Prof Fabbrini highlighted the challenges of eliminating unanimity, proposing instead to use Passerelle clauses for qualified majority voting in areas such as foreign policy and defence.

Passerelle clauses are a mechanism for introducing EU Treaty changes of a very specific nature.

However, the loss of unanimity could lead to smaller states feeling left out, the book launch heard.

Schussel said that unanimity could not be eliminated, due to the balance between common and national interests within the EU.

He also said that neutral states such as Ireland could defend themselves and others under the principle of solidarity.

Turning point

Prof Fabbrini commented that the war in Ukraine was a turning point for the EU, forcing it to confront hard-power issues. The EU's unprecedented actions, enabled by the treaties, needed additional academic research, he suggested.

Finally, the return of Donald Trump to the White House was a very significant factor in the EU's new reality and would require the EU to defend itself more seriously, noting the shift in the American security umbrella, Prof Fabbrini concluded.