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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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    01February 2005
    EU security and defence — Core documents 2004
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    This fifth volume of Core Documents lists the European Union’s decisions and actions in the field of security and defence taken during 2004. Texts concerning ESDP are collected in the first part of this volume. The second part of this work is devoted solely to the Constitutional Treaty.

  • 21January 2005
    Towards a European Defence Equipment Market — The Green Paper on Defence Procurement

    Given the importance the recent Green Paper on Defence Procurement, the Institute invited representatives of the EC, the European Defence Agency, member states, industry and academics to discuss the various options available to improve transparency and openness of defence markets between EU member states.

  • 01January 2005
    Defence procurement: new ways ahead?
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    Important developments are on the way in Europe’s armaments sector. Following the official establishment of the European Defence Agency (EDA), the focus has currently shifted to the Commission’s Green Paper on defence procurement. Published in September, the Green Paper has opened a four-month consultation phase for stakeholders to comment on the Commission’s ideas for a more coherent regulatory framework in this area.

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    01December 2004
    Afghanistan : la difficile reconstruction d'un Etat
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    L'intervention militaire en Afghanistan d'octobre 2001 a été déterminée uniquement par les attentats du 11 septembre. L'Etat ne peut se reconstruire qu'à partir de la culture politique afghane : il faut pour cela inscrire les réformes dans un cadre idéologiquement légitime (nationalisme, islam), tout en s'adaptant à l'anthropologie politique de l'Afghanistan, où notables et groupes de solidarité locaux jouent un rôle plus important que les grandes tribus ou les ethnies.

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    08November 2004
    What is a 'Failing State', and when is it a security threat?
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    The European Security Strategy identifies ‘state failure’ as one of the ‘key threats’ confronting Europe. This is one point of convergence with the 2002 US National Security Strategy. However, implicitly distancing itself from the US, the European Security Strategy recognises that ‘none of the new threats is purely military; nor can [they] be tackled by purely military means.’

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    01November 2004
    La gestion des crises en Afrique subsaharienne - Le rôle de l'union européenne
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    Le nombre croissant et la complexité grandissante des situations de crise en Afrique, ainsi qu’un intérêt moins marqué de la communauté internationale pour la région au lendemain de la guerre froide, ont conduit de nombreux États et organisations africains à prendre des initiatives pour trouver des solutions à leurs propres problèmes.

  • 21October 2004
    The constitutional treaty: 'enabling text' for foreign policy and defence
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    The EU's constitutional treaty is, in so far as it touches on foreign policy and common defence, an 'enabling' text. The treaties approved since the Maastricht Treaty (in 1992) have been mostly about constraining the general scope and function of the Union's foreign, security and defence policies. With the constitution, such constraints are either scrapped or the conditions for doing away with them in the future are set.

  • 14October 2004
    Energy as a security challenge for the EU

    When does energy constitute a security threat for the EU? How should the EU respond to existing and potential threats to its energy security? The seminar, in cooperation with the Dutch presidency of the EU, raised these critical questions which face the European Union and its member states.

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    01October 2004
    Les cinq prochaines années
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    Lancée en 1999 au Conseil européen de Cologne, la PESD est sans conteste l’une des plus rapides « success stories » de l’Union européenne.

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    01October 2004
    La cohérence par la défense. Une autre lecture de la PESD
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    On peut lire le développement, au cours de plusieurs décennies, de la dimension de politique extérieure de la construction européenne, y compris dans le domaine de la sécurité et de la défense, comme une suite de compromis entre deux logiques contradictoires : celle de la souveraineté nationale et celle de la cohérence.

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