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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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    01November 2001

    Déjà lors du Traité de Maastricht, l’Union européenne se donnait pour objectif d’affirmer son identité sur la scène internationale, notamment par la mise en œuvre d’« une politique étrangère et de sécurité commune, y compris la définition à terme d’une politique de défense commune, qui pourrait conduire, le moment venu, à une défense commune ».

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    02October 2001

    What is NATO for? The question, which some may find provocative, is none the less the essential one concerning the future of the Alliance – its legitimacy, its missions and its desirable or foreseeable geographical enlargement. Logically, the Allies should agree on the Alliance’s future role and priorities before deciding on the next enlargement – which is due to happen in May 2002.

  • 01October 2001

    Après les attentats du 11 septembre, les débats sur l’OTAN et son élargissement devront tenir compte de deux évolutions majeures :le recours à l’article 5, dès le 12 septembre, pour exprimer la solidarité atlantique contre le terrorisme d’une part ; la coopération américano-russe dans la lutte anti-terroriste d’autre part.

  • 01October 2001

    The impact on US Foreign Policy What are the implications for the direction of US foreign and security policy in the wake of the attacks on 11 September? Will it become more multilateralist or unilateralist? How will it affect transatlantic relations?

  • 01October 2001

    The EU, directly after the attacks on the US on 11 September, stated its solidarity with and willingness to support the US. Consequently, the question that arises is: what concrete changes will take place/are needed in EU security-related policies and instruments in order to realise such support

  • 01October 2001

    Recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington raise the question whether similar attacks could also take place in Europe. Is the threat of catastrophic terrorism the same for EU members as for the US? Or does it create different zones of security and vulnerability within NATO and the EU?...

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    01October 2001

    The blurring of the distinction between internal and external security, and the connected impulse towards better coordination between the correspondent policy fields, are among the fundamental structural changes in international relations that have occurred during the last decades. Such overall trends were accentuated and made particularly evident in Western Europe by progress in supranational integration.

  • 27September 2001

    L’énorme cacophonie stratégique qui n’en finit pas d’émerger des ruines du World Trade Center affectera aussi les règles et la dynamique traditionnelles de la construction européenne. Moteurs d’intégration accrue, les attentats du 11 septembre le seront au moins pour trois raisons.

  • 01September 2001

    Il est bien évidemment difficile de tirer des conclusions définitives sur l’impact des attentats du 11 septembre. Toutefois, s’agissant de la PESD, trois séries d’effets sont envisageables, étant entendu qu’ils peuvent être parfois contradictoires entre eux et selon que l’analyse se place sur le court ou le long terme

  • 01September 2001

    What consequences may the terrorist acts of 11 September have for EU enlargement? Will they facilitate it or make it more complicated? And what is likely to be their overall impact on pan-European security?

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