Restrictions in the Use of Force in the European Union – Post-neutrality and Demilitarisation as Examples

This paper discusses how restrictions in the use of force are taken into account in the European Union. I focus especially on the six post-neutral and non-NATO countries in the Union – Finland, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. The countries have all had to redefine their neutrality concepts after joining the European Union and commit to the common security and defence policies, including the eventual framing of a common defence, as stipulated in EU Treaties. A less flexible approach to redefinition is provided by the demilitarised Åland Islands, which have been demilitarised for 160 years and allow no military presence in the region. The paper examines how such restrictive concepts are considered especially in the time after the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy as well as the Brexit referendum in June 2016. Together with the election of the US President Trump and the unpredictable behaviour of Russia, several EU countries have called for intensified defence cooperation, possibly in the form of Permanent Structured Cooperation. Interestingly enough, post-neutral Finland is one of the most vocal supporters of deeper European defence cooperation. Do concepts such as neutrality and non-alliance have any purpose in the current multipolar world or are they just Cold War remnants, which the countries, for one reason or another, refuse to drop?