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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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    01June 2003

    During the last year, the Institute has participated in a consortium of policy research organisations in the United States, Europe, Russia and Asia that aims to strengthen the G-8’s ‘Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction’ initiative. The consortium, led by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, Washington, DC), seeks to support and promote cooperative threat reduction (CTR) activities.

  • 21April 2003

    Curiously enough, after Iraq, CFSP may be in trouble but ESDP seems to be faring well. The main reason is that there is no longer any significant transatlantic or intra-European divergence over how to deal with Balkans: we all agree on both the principles and the means to be applied to the region, and act accordingly.

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    01April 2003

    Aiming to reach operational status in 2008, the Galileo satellite system is planned to offer positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services worldwide. It will join the ranks of the current GPS and GLONASS systems, allowing users to pinpoint their exact locations.

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    01April 2003

    Could it be that Europeans, like Americans, believe that from now on ‘the mission determines the coalition, and not the other way round’? That was the new American strategic dogma established as transatlantic doctrine by Donald Rumsfeld after the 11 September attacks.

  • 01April 2003

    The April 2003 Transatlantic Conference, The EU and the US: partners in stability?, was held in Paris. Bringing together officials and academics from both sides of the Atlantic, the conference analysed the state of transatlantic relations after the invasion of Iraq.

  • 28March 2003

    Politisch hat der Irak-Krieg schon heute verheerenden Schaden angerichtet. Vor allem die internationalen Organisationen UN, NATO und EU gehören zu den grossen Verlierern. Besonders prekär erscheint dabei die Lage der Europäischen Union, auf die ausgerechnet in der jetzigen Phase der Zerrissenheit entscheidende Weichenstellungen zukommen: Bis zum Sommer soll der Konvent seine Vorschläge zur künftigen Kompetenzverteilung in der EU unterbreiten.

  • 23March 2003

    La larga crisis sobre Irak y la guerra en curso plantean una cuestión central para los europeos: tras una división tempestuosa, ¿volverá la Unión Europea a la calma, o habrá que replantearse todo el proyecto europeo?

  • 07March 2003

    The 8th meeting of the Institute’s Task Force on South-Eastern Europe was held on 7 March 2003 in Paris. Attended by a number of European and American officials and experts, this session assessed the convergences and divergences between EU and US policy in the Western Balkans today and the next imperatives of the international community’s agenda for the region.

  • 07March 2003

    Es ist eine Binsenweisheit, dass jede Krise auch Chancen in sich birgt. Ob dies im Falle der Irak-Krise auch für die Europäische Union gilt, erscheint allerdings fraglich. Welche Konsequenzen werden die Mitgliedsstaaten aus dem offenen Zerwürfnis der letzten Wochen ziehen?

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    01March 2003

    Security thinking has undergone a significant evolution since the end of the Cold War. The scope of the subject has been extended from the nation-state to societal groups and individuals, and areas covered now include health, the environment, protection against crime and economic disruption, and culture.

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