From global strategy to global actor?

On 22 February 2019, the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) organised a seminar on the EU Global Strategy. Organised under the auspices of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU and hosted by the European Commission, the EUISS and ESDC welcomed speakers from the European Commission, the European Defence Agency, the European External Action Service and the EU Military Staff. The audience was comprised of EU officials and representatives from the ESDC’s alumni network.

The panel sessions focused on how far the EU has come in moving from rhetoric to reality in security and defence. The speakers focused on initiatives such as the European Defence Fund, the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence and Permanent Structured Cooperation and debates centred on whether the EU is better prepared to ‘protect Europe’ than it was before 2016. Additionally, panel experts debated the shifting nature of the Common Security and Defence Policy and it reflected on new initiatives such as the Military Planning and Conduct Capability and the European Commission’s cyber security responses.