Maritime security

Southern currents: Mapping the geopolitics of the South Atlantic

The South Atlantic is emerging as a strategic arena connecting Africa and South America. Deepening security and economic ties, intensifying geopolitical competition and rising threats from organised crime create new challenges and opportunities for more proactive EU engagement.

Briefs

11 December, 2025 By: Rossella Marangio, Giuseppe Spatafora
Ocean of stakes: The Western Indian Ocean’s complex maritime order

Europe’s prosperity depends on secure Western Indian Ocean routes, yet governance remains fragmented. The EU can strengthen stability by supporting the alignment of vision, resources, and partnerships across a region where strategic competition is intensifying.

Briefs

19 November, 2025 By: Lizza Bomassi, Rossella Marangio
Deep waters: the maritime security landscape in the Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea’s resources, economic potential and strategic location make it a vital area for maritime security. While piracy has declined, threats like illegal fishing, trafficking and terrorism persist. This Brief presents three scenarios with recommendations for the EU to...

Briefs

9 January, 2025 By: Rossella Marangio
Naval gazing? The Strategic Compass and the EU's maritime presence

This Brief looks at how the Strategic Compass can make a tangible difference to the EU’s role as a maritime security provider.

Briefs

26 July, 2021 Edited By: Daniel Fiott
The EU as a maritime security provider

Maritime security is one of the fundamental strategic interests of the European Union. This Brief focuses on the EU’s ambition to become a maritime security provider in the Indo-Pacific region and explores how might it go about accomplishing this. It shows how a more proactive...

Briefs

16 December, 2019 By: Eva Pejsova
Along the road – Sri Lanka’s tale of two ports

The first in the EUISS series ‘Along the road’, which will examine the security implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this Brief looks at how the debt trap Sri Lanka found itself in may provide some useful lessons learned. What are the domestic and regional...

Briefs

18 April 2018 By: Plamen Tonchev
The Indo-Pacific – A passage to Europe?

This Brief sets the stage for an upcoming EUISS series entitled ' Along the road', which will examine the security implications of China’s Belt and Road (BRI) connectivity project. Through a collection of case studies from infrastructure projects and countries situated ‘Along the...

Briefs

15 March 2018 Edited By: Eva Pejsova
Chinese futures: horizon 2025

This Report - the outcome of a dedicated EUISS Task Force - seeks to decipher what kind of global actor we can expect China to be, given its growing international profile and ambitions. What do current trends indicate regarding the direction of its future foreign and security...

Analysis

19 July 2017 By: Eva Pejsova
Sense and sensibility – Addressing the South China Sea disputes

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.

Analysis

1 June 2016 By: Eva Pejsova
Prospects for EU-India security cooperation

This report is the result of a closed-door workshop and a public conference on 'Prospects for EU–India Security Cooperation' held in September 2016 in New Delhi by Chatham House, the EU Institute for Security Studies, and the Observer Research Foundation. It explores the scope...

Analysis

9 November 2016 By: Kanchi Gupta, Eva Pejsova, Gareth Price, Samir Saran, John-Joseph Wilkins