Between Scylla and Charybdis: assessing Portugal’s approach to the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Abstract:

This article provides a portrait and evaluation of the Portuguese EU policy in the specific domains of security and defence. Based on the negotiation strategy adopted by Lisbon's representatives during the revision process of the successive treaties, it will attempt to illuminate Portugal's commitment to the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) which tends to be conditional upon the respect of four major precepts: the state sovereignty core, the primacy of NATO, the 'petits pas' method and inclusiveness. The central claim is that the Portuguese ESDP policy has been largely typified by ambivalence: while reasons related to state security have hampered governmental elite to embrace an all-encompassing involvement, politico-diplomatic and economic imperatives have pushed it to deepen de facto engagement in order to position the country at the heart of political integration dynamics.