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Jan Wouters, Sijbren de Jong, Philip De Man, The EU's Commitment to Effective Multilateralism in the Field of Security: Theory and Practice, Yearbook of European Law, Volume 29, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 164–189, https://doi.org/10.1093/yel/29.1.164
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Extract
1. Introduction
The European Security Strategy (ESS)1 was released at a time when the credibility of the international security architecture had come under tremendous strain as a result of the 2003 Iraq war. The lead-up to the conflict had been characterised by an unprecedented divide between UN Member States who backed the US’ position and those who believed concerted action should be subject to a UN Security Council (UNSC) mandate. Next to dividing the UNSC, EU Member States also firmly diverged on what action to take. The decision to go ahead without UNSC backing dealt a blow to the belief of achieving a multilateral solution to the ‘Iraq question’ and with it threw the UN into one of its biggest crises to date. Several months after the invasion Former Secretary General Kofi Anan – speaking before the General Assembly – referred to a ‘fork in the road’, referring to the need for UN reform.2
