Comparative Analysis of the European Security Strategy(2003) and Global Strategy of the European Unity (2016)

In this article, the authors carried out a comparative analysis of the European Security Strategy (2003) and Global Strategy of the European Union (2016) in order to track the evolution of perception of threats and challenges to the international system. This comparison answers a number of scientific questions. In particular: Are security risks in Europe, published in 2003, still relevant? Have the methods and means of combating difficulties changed for 13 years? Which methods were decisive? Is the EU’s security strategy, despite some cosmetic changes, still relevant?

About 13 years passed between the publications of the two analyzed EU security strategies, It should be noted that the documents have significant differences due to the dynamic transformations experienced by the international environment. The dangers that may threaten the EU have significantly changed, which causes forced changes in the means of their elimination.

Despite a series of changes, the 2016 safety strategy contains a list of risks that are basically the same as in the previous document, but it should be noted that the way of submitting them has changed. In the strategy of 2003, the threats are clearly separated from the problems, strategic objectives and implications of security policy. In the new strategy, as it is seen from its analysis, a more global approach has been made to safety. The fact, that the new strategy contains a much larger text volume and has four times more pages than the previous document, proves that the issues contained in it are considered more widely and contain additional characteristics. The new strategy recognizes significant monolithic cracks, which in 2003 were characteristic of the European community.

Although the content of the Global Strategy of 2016 is most relevant to today’s realities, only time will allow a realistic estimate of the value of this document.