DALLA COERENZA ALLA STRUMENTALITÀ: L’EVOLUZIONE DELLA SICUREZZA E DIFESA NAZIONALE NEL CONTESTO EUROPEO

This article discusses the ongoing evolution of the national administrative function of « security and defence ». In particular, it asks how such function is framed and revised by the developments currently occurring in the European Union (EU) legal order. It is argued that the national function of security and defence has traditionally been embedded within a clearly recognizable EU model. This model, however, is now undergoing a deep transformation which directly affects the features and ways of exercise of the national function. The ongoing dynamic may be conceptualized as a process of Europeanization of the national security and defence function. But this is a Europeanisation of a particular kind: gradual, incremental and to a large extent open-ended. Furthermore, it is a problematic and process, as the instruments on which it relies present both points of strength and weaknesses.