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Security and defence

The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is an integral part of EU foreign policy. Through its military operations and civilian missions, the EU has contributed to regional and global stability. Since it's inception, the CSDP has responded to a shifting regional security context. It has played a vital role in crisis management in the EU's near and wider neighbourhood but it is also an essential part of the EU's broader approach to the protection of Europe and capacity building.

Although the Lisbon Treaty consolidated the EU's crisis management apparatus, the EU Global Strategy has set a new level of ambition for EU defence. In addition to the CSDP playing an operational role in the EU's integrated approach to crises, the EU Global Strategy has stressed the need for the EU to become a more capable and effective defence actor. Initiatives such as the European Defence Fund, the coordinated annual defence review (CARD) and more coherent financing for EU operations and capacity building efforts are all aimed at supporting the EU's strategic autonomy and the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. The EUISS continues to support the development of CSDP through outreach activities and expert publications.

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    25January 2013
    Comment choisir ses mesures restrictives? Guide pratique des sanctions de l’UE
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    Les mesures restrictives sont les instruments de prédilection de l’Union européenne (UE) pour imposer des mesures de coercition aux pays tiers. Distinguant les différents cas de figure en cause en fonction de leur coût juridique potentiel, il s’agira ici de proposer un guide pratique du choix des mesures restrictives appropriées.

  • 20December 2012
    EUISS 2.0: back to the future
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    In the new institutional landscape, Antonio Missiroli describes how and why the EUISS must adapt and develop in order to prove its added value by strengthening its profile as a provider of expertise and strategic analysis and becoming a hub of networking activities and debate.

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    30November 2012
    EU engagement in the Sahel: lessons from Somalia and AfPak
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    This policy brief looks at the prospects for the proposed EU training mission in Mali and examines what lessons might be learned from the EU’s previous contribution to international peacekeeping efforts in Somalia as well as the exent to which the fragile security situation in Northern Mali has the potential to become another Afghanistan.

  • 29November 2012
    After austerity: futures for Europe's defence industry
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    Europe's defence industry currently remains fragmented both across countries and business sectors. Yet given the downsizing of defence budgets, greater consolidation can now be expected through a mix of Europe, NATO, extra-EU and purely national solutions.

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    12July 2012
    Integrating the EU defence market: an easy way to soften the impact of military spending cuts?
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    As many European governments introduce their biggest defence budget cuts in years, the impact on their collective military capabilities may be lessened by exploiting two directives designed to integrate the EU defence market.

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    09July 2012
    Are Europeans a better transatlantic security partner than meets the eye?
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    he latest wave of European military spending cuts is swelling the ranks of Americans who believe that Europeans are not contributing enough to global security. But this assessment is too harsh. It is true that Europeans spend less on defence than their American counterparts. They have also been less willing to use force in recent years. But the US itself is reassessing the merit of its military interventions over the last decade.

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    12June 2012
    Transatlantic strategies in the Asia Pacific
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    For the moment, the US presence in the Asia Pacific region provi­des regional and extra-regional actors, including the EU, with security and stability that enable free naviga­tion, trade flows, peaceful development, and avoidance of violent conflicts or confrontations. But how can the EU assume a more active and strategic role in the region?

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    08January 2012
    Toward a new Euro-Atlantic security framework
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    In November 2011, Moscow threatened to deploy tactical nuclear weaponry in Kaliningrad in response to US Missile Defense (MD) radar systems to be deployed in Turkey. Although Washington argued that MD systems are intended to counter Iranian missile systems, Moscow still regards the fourth phase of the Phased Adaptive Approach as potentially threatening to Russia itself. Moscow additionally stated that it might quit New START after the US dropped out of the adapted Conventional Force in Europe (CFE) treaty.

  • 20July 2011
    European Union Security and Defence. Core Documents 2010 — Vol. XI
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    Each year the Core Documents series provides the Institute’s readers with as inclusive a reference work as possible on the EU’s decisions and actions in the field of security and defence.

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    20May 2011
    Perspektiven für die europäische Verteidigung 2020
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    Wie wird die CSVP in 2020 aussehen? In dieser dritten, auf Deutsch übersetzten Edition des Buches „What ambitions for European defence in 2020?“ zeichnen die Autoren ihre Vision für die Weiterentwicklung ziviler, wie auch militärischer Kapazitäten.

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  • 17May 2016
    The future of European defence

    On 17 May 2016, the EUISS hosted a launch event for the recently published Chaillot Paper ‘Envisioning European defence: five futures’. This launch event provided a forum for analysts, policymakers and interested stakeholders alike to better understand how the choices of today will impact the European defence of tomorrow.

  • 06April 2016
    The EU and NATO in a more contested world: enabling a genuine strategic partnership

    As part of the series of expert seminars supporting the drafting of the EU Global Strategy, the EUISS and PISM co-organised the seminar 'The EU and NATO in a more contested world: enabling a genuine strategic partnership' in Warsaw on 6 April 2016.

  • 18March 2016
    Expert seminar on SSR

    On 18 March 2016, the EUISS coorganised a closed seminar on the forthcoming EU-wide Strategic Framework for Security Sector Reform (SSR), which is to be released by mid-2016.

  • 11March 2016
    Europe’s security and defence: what next?

    This seminar, jointly organised by the EUISS, the Dutch Embassy in Paris and the French and Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, aimed at stimulating dialogue about the changing nature and increasing importance of national and supranational security policy in Europe.

  • 25February 2016
    ESDC alumni seminar

    This seminar was co-organised by the EUISS, the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), the Egmont Institute, and the Netherlands Presidency of the Council of the EU.

  • 02July 2015
    Learning and training for EU CSDP

    On 2-3 July 2015, the EUISS and the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), with the support of the European Parliament and the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU, organised an expert seminar on learning and training.

  • 06November 2014
    Presentation of YES 2014 in Vienna

    In partnership with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, the EUISS presented the abridged German version of its Yearbook of European of European Security 2014 on 6 November in the Austrian capital.

  • 11September 2014
    EUISS annual conference 2014

    The EUISS held its annual conference on 11/12 September in central Paris. This year’s event, entitled ‘European security in a changing global environment’, was an opportunity to convene numerous policy planners and think tankers from across the Europe to discuss European security during a period of major institutional change within the Union.

  • 19June 2014
    Learning by doing: military lessons learnt within the comprehensive approach

    The EU Military Staff, in cooperation with the EU Institute for Security Studies, organised a High-Level Conference entitled ‘Learning by doing - Military lessons learnt within the Comprehensive Approach’ in Brussels on 19-20 June 2014.

  • 06June 2014
    Quelle contribution du militaire à l’approche globale de l’action extérieure de l’UE ?

    On 6 June 2014, the EUISS co-hosted the third seminar of a series of events on the role of the military in CSDP with the French MOD think tank, l'Institut de Recherche stratégique de l’Ecole militaire (IRSEM).

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