NATO or the ESDP? “Choice dilemma” for the Baltic States

Abstract

After reestablishment of independence, the range of problems associated with the withdrawal of the Soviet army dominated the security agenda of the Baltic States until 1994. Subsequently, an undisputed priority of their foreign and security policy became integration into euro-Atlantic structures. Presently, the Baltic States are formally full-fledged members of NATO and the EU which consider the guarantees of the fifth article of the The North Atlantic Treaty as the most efficient mean for ensuring “hard” security. On the other hand, due to transformation of the nature of threats to security of the world and each state, also for a number of other reasons, the Baltic States may not stay away from the common European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). This article examines a new dilemma of security and defence policy that has been recently faced by the Baltic States: commitments to which organization (NATO or EU) concluded and assumed by the Baltic States should be given priority. The article analyses the factor of a still imminent threat from Russia as one of the most important factors having an effect on this choice.