Smaller EU Members and the EU's CSDP after Brexit: Navigating in the New Environment

The United Kingdom has been one of the leaders (if maybe reluctant) of the European Union's security and defence policy. Yet, its decision to leave the EU coincides with the most significant increase of activity in the CSDP area in a long time. The new initiatives have included tools to (weakly) coordinate national defence spending, the CARDS, the unprecedented use of EU budget in defence-related research and development, the European Defence Fund, and the launch of the Permanent Structured Cooperation in defence. The balance of views on the use of force, the relations with NATO, and the role of the EU in European security between the UK, France, and Germany that characterised the development of the CSDP so far will have to change with Brexit. This poses a serious challenge for the smaller member countries that will have to learn how to pursue their interests in the new environment. The paper will present a case study of the Czech approach to the new defence initiatives at the EU level and analyse them through the lenses of the small country struggle for influence at a moment when the old distribution of power is changing. As such, it will contribute to our understanding of the behaviour of smaller member states in the EU as well as to the impact of Brexit on the EU security and defence policy.