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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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    01July 2010
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    European Union Security and Defence: Core Documents 2009 — Volume X

    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. 2009 marked not only the tenth anniversary of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESPD), but also the beginning of a new era with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, creating a new impetus for the external action of the EU.

  • 18June 2010
    CSDP and Turkey

    Organised with the support of the Instituto Español de Estudos Estratégicos (Spanish Ministry of Defence), Middle East Technical University (METU, Ankara) and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this seminar explored Turkey's role in CSDP operations and ways ahead for future cooperation.

  • 03May 2010
    European perspectives on NATO's strategic concept

    This brainstorming meeting explored European perspectives on NATO's new strategic concept. Taking place in Paris on 3 May 2010, the two sessions focused on what Europe should think about NATO's new strategic concept and what the future holds for EU-NATO cooperation.

  • 26April 2010
    Peacebuilding and the security-development nexus

    In preparation for the 2010 Annual Conference 2010, this seminar focused on how to support peacebuilding in the field. Developing mediation capacities at the local level in conflict-prone and fragile countries was seen as paramount in the peacebuilding sector.

  • 18March 2010
    Lessons from EUFOR Tchad/RCA

    The EUFOR Tchad/RCA lessons learned seminar hosted by the Institute on 18 March facilitated a debate on the effectiveness of the EU mission in Chad. The discussions resulted in a number of recommendations for the planning, conduct and execution of subsequent EU operations and generated several ideas for the future of the CSDP.

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    17February 2010
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    Cooperation by Committee

    This paper examines the examples of the Civilian Crisis Management Committee (Civcom) and EU Military Committee (EUMC), in order to shed light on the transgovernmental dynamic within the field of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), the EU’s cornerstone policy mechanism for crisis response in third countries.

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    20January 2010
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    Planning for EU military operations

    The EU's military planning capacity is in need of a major overhaul. The lack of a permanent operational planning headquarters undermines peacekeeping performance, and more broadly, the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). This Occasional Paper seeks to reconcile the need to address existing deficiencies in military planning and command and control with the general resistance to a permanent military operational headquarters.

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    17December 2009
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    Strength in numbers? Comparing EU military capabilities in 2009 with 1999

    The 1999 Helsinki Summit saw EU governments committing to a reform of their military capabilities, better equipping their armies for peacekeeping missions. In this latest EUISS Policy Brief, Daniel Keohane and Charlotte Blommestijn examine just how much progress has been made in the past ten years.

  • 11December 2009
    Turkey and the ESDP: towards enhanced cooperation?

    The EUISS co-hosted the second Seminar on Turkey and the ESDP at Bosphorus University in Istanbul on 11 December 2009. The debate centred on the assumption that an open CSDP is not only a viable idea, but could also constitute a suitable framework for enhanced security cooperation with third countries in a multipolar world.

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    29October 2009
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    What ambitions for European defence in 2020?

    Revised in light of the Irish Lisbon Treaty referendum results, this second edition seeks to define Europe’s long-term security and defence ambitions, concluding with a ten-point ‘roadmap to 2020’ based on the premise that the European Union needs to build both a robust civilian and military capacity on the foundations of what has already been achieved.

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    01November 2004
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    La gestion des crises en Afrique subsaharienne - Le rôle de l'union européenne

    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
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    The constitutional treaty: 'enabling text' for foreign policy and defence

    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.

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    01October 2004
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    Les cinq prochaines années

    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
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    La cohérence par la défense. Une autre lecture de la PESD

    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.

  • 01October 2004
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    Protecting Europe

    The terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004 provided a grim reminder of the threats facing Europe. They reinforced the EU Security Strategy's assertion that `internal and external aspect of security are indissolubly linked'. The attacks also underscored the need for Europe to reinforce its internal security.

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    01September 2004
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    EU enlargement and armaments. Defence industries and markets of the Visegrad countries

    Since the end of the Cold War, the armaments sector in the Visegrad countries has gone through an important downsizing process. Shrinking home markets and the disruption of the Warsaw Pact cooperation mechanisms have put defence industries in the region under enormous pressure.

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    01August 2004
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    EU Security and Defence Policy: the first five years (1999-2004)

    What are the ambitions of the Union in security and defence matters? What has been accomplished in the last five years? What are the different sensitivities of the 25 member states regarding the future of European defence? How should relations be developed with NATO and the United States? The reader will find here the most exhaustive critical assessment possible of the assets and achievements of the Union during the course of the first five years of ESDP (1999-2004).

  • 01July 2004
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    A new impetus for ESDP

    Among the clouds of abstention, apathy and doubts about the European integration project, the area of security and defence has seen indisputable progress in the last couple of years. The year 2003 witnessed a European Security Strategy document was endorsed last December. All of this would have been unthinkable just five years ago. Yet, the capabilities aspect of ESDP is still lagging behind.

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    01July 2004
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    Protecting the European homeland — the CBR dimension

    The Sarin attacks carried out by the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo in Matsumoto and Tokyo highlighted the threat posed by non-state actors equipped with non-conventional weapons. Although the number of casualties was limited, the attack signalled a cause for concern.

  • 14June 2004
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    L'armement terrestre doit s'organiser

    A partir d'aujourd'hui, les entreprises d'armement terrestre et aéroterrestre vont se réunir à Paris lors du salon international Eurosatory. Côté européen, l'ambiance sera sans doute mitigée. La situation reste difficile en particulier pour les producteurs de chars et de véhicules blindés, qui forment le noyau dur de l'industrie d'armement terrestre.

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