"France and the European Security and Defense Policy"

[From the Introduction]. In the 1990’s, the CFSP and its military component the ESDP have become core elements of the French defense doctrine. Whereas the Gaullist doctrine in the 1960’s put the emphasis on sovereignty and independence as the best ways to maintain the French position in international politics, the European political unification being a complementary option, the new strategy is much more aware of the necessity to act within a European framework. In 1994, the building of a European defense policy is quoted in the Livre blanc on defense as one of the French priorities, which is quite a new idea. Two decades earlier, the 1972 Livre blanc on national defense did not even mention the possibility of creating a European defense