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Transnational challenges

There is a growing overlap between the EU’s internal and external security problems. Terrorism, organised crime and unregulated migration not only pose a threat to European internal security, but also have a serious impact on the stability of Europe’s immediate neighbourhood. Very often, they find their roots in conflicts and instability further abroad in Africa or Asia.

For some time, the European Union has been active in international debates on the governance of these challenges, and has created new policy instruments of its own. Already in the early 1990s, the EU successfully linked its home-affairs priorities with its Common Foreign and Security Policy. The 2015 migration crisis showed the limits of that approach, and has sparked a new wave of reforms.

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    13July 2016
    Shaping (not just surviving) the future of energy
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    More than six months after the Paris climate talks concluded with a historic agreement, this Brief looks at how key trends in energy technology, investment and geopolitics will influence energy policy decisions across Europe and around the globe?

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    08July 2016
    Europeans migrating abroad – and back
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    EU citizens are increasingly migrating abroad as developing countries become more attractive destinations. Diaspora communities are becoming more important, while the emergence of more circular, bi-directional migratory patterns presents an opportunity to turn ‘brain drain’ into ‘brain exchange’

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    07July 2016
    Space security for Europe
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    This Report investigates opportunities for improving European strategic thinking on space security. It analyses potential threats to critical European space infrastructure, and offers ideas for improving space system resilience, reducing external dependence, and working with international partners to ensure a secure and sustainable environment for outer space activities.

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    01July 2016
    Euro 2016 – teaming up for security
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    With the UEFA European Championship 2016 having kicked off in France last month, this Alert looks at the unprecedented collaborative efforts of France and its international partners to combat the terrorist threat facing the tournament.

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    16June 2016
    People on the move – The new global (dis)order
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    This Chaillot Paper analyses the factors which have generated the current migration crisis, and emphasises that a balanced policy debate on the challenges and opportunities this phenomenon created by this phenomenon is still lacking. It examines how the devolution of global power means that a new strategy on migration and refugees will need to focus mainly on the world beyond the EU’s borders, providing people with opportunities as close to home as possible.

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    10June 2016
    Migration to Europe: the numbers game
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    Europe is playing a numbers game – the mastery of data and information. What can be done to improve the chances of winning? And why is effective communication over the refugee crisis – to EU citizens as well as migrants – so vital?

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    10June 2016
    Islamic radicalism in the Balkans
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    This Alert seeks to draw attention to the often overlooked problem of Islamic extremist movements in the Balkans. Given the region’s moderate traditions, why are radical Islamist groups now proving so popular?

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    09June 2016
    Competing for ransom: AQIM vs. Daesh
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    Thanks to Daesh’s recent territorial gains in Libya, its rivalry with the al-Qaeda network has been taken to the next level. In their battle for supporters, fighters and funding, the jihadists are competing fiercely for the most lucrative ‘industry’ in the region: kidnapping-for-ransom.

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    09June 2016
    What news from the Daesh front?
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    This Alert offers an overview of the progress made on the multiple fronts of the war against Daesh. Have the international coalition’s efforts to degrade and destroy the jihadist organisation had a meaningful impact?

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    01June 2016
    Sense and sensibility – Addressing the South China Sea disputes
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    With contributions from

    This Report, based on the work of the EU committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP EU), focuses on the territorial disputes that currently put peace and stability in the region at risk.

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    06June 2014
    Schengen’s maritime border: another annus horribilis in the Med?
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    Tackling an emotive issue, this Alert provides an overview of what steps the Union has taken in order to deal with uncontrolled maritime migration on its southern borders. What more might be done in order to break the ‘business model’ of organised people smugglers who prey on the vulnerable?

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    28March 2014
    China’s energy demands: are they reshaping the world?
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    Following the rise of China’s economy and subsequent discussions on the efficient use of resources, this Brief examines how China is seeking to manage its growing import dependency through diversification. With the EU and China becoming the world’s two most important energy importers, what effect will this have on the global energy markets?

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    14March 2014
    Handle with care: crowd-sourcing and non-proliferation
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    The use of information and communication technology is becoming a key asset in crisis management. But how can digitally connected crowds of people add similar value to other policy areas? This Brief contemplates the deployment of crowd-sourcing to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

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    14March 2014
    The EU and its (cyber) partnerships
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    The rise of cybercrime and the threat this poses to the digital economy has led to increased awareness of the importance of a coordinated approach to internet governance, and of the need for intergovernmental mechanisms to support this. This Brief looks at the prospects for increased cyber defence cooperation at both international and regional levels.

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    14March 2014
    EU cyber-defence: a work in progress
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    Following the proposal to prepare an EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework at last December's European Council, this Brief seeks to explore how the EU can improve its cyber-defence capabilities and thereby better protect its critical infrastructure. What is there, for example, to be learned from international partners in this ‘greenfield’ domain?

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    28February 2014
    EU and sub-Saharan Africa: an energy partnership?
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    Sub-Saharan Africa is both blessed with immense energy resources and challenged by desperate energy poverty. This Brief explains how, as Europe diversifies its energy suppliers and seeks improved energy security, a focus on better energy governance and improved energy sustainability in Africa can help manage this contradiction.

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    14February 2014
    Energy moves and power shifts: EU foreign policy and global energy security
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    With contributions from

    This report undertakes an appraisal of global energy trends and lays out priorities for the EU to improve its energy security through action in the international arena. The shale gas revolution in the US, the nuclear meltdown in Japan, the rising use of coal in emerging economies and the shift of economic gravity to the Asia-Pacific have all complicated energy policy-making in Europe.

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    18December 2013
    Warsaw to Paris: beyond the climate divide
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    Following the Climate Change Conference held in Warsaw last month, this alert examines the difficult balancing act facing the EU as it struggles to reduce emissions in a manner that protects both its economy and the environment.

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    06December 2013
    What economies of shale for US foreign policy?
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    This brief explores the impact on US foreign policy of the so-called ‘shale revolution’. With an ever-decreasing dependence on foreign energy producers, is the US on course to become independent from world energy markets? What impact will this have on the (often politically unstable) regions upon which the US has hitherto relied and, perhaps more unsettlingly for Europeans, on the transatlantic partnership?

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    29November 2013
    Crowd-sourcing – crisis response in the digital age
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    Making use of all available resources is of paramount importance to mitigate the social and economic costs of humanitarian and natural disasters. This alert examines how information and communication technologies, coupled with crowd-sourcing – the practice of obtaining information, ideas and services from large (often online) groups of people – are increasingly proving to be valuable tools in tackling some of the key challenges in such situations.

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