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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 2006
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    La PESC, entre l'Iran et la Constitution

    This edition of the EUISS newsletter 'ISSues' includes articles about the Iranian constitution, the EU's soft power in the Balkans, and EU dialogue with Iran.

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    01July 2006
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    ESDP Newsletter No.2

    As we finalise this second issue of the ESDP newsletter, the European Union is about to launch its fourth military operation under the European Security and Defence Policy: the UN force, MONUC, during the crucial electoral period in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The newsletter places the new mission in the context of the EU's strong, long-standing and multifaceted commitment to the DRC and its transition process.

  • 30June 2006
    Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo – The State of Play

    This Task Force focussed on Montenegro after the independence referendum and relations with Serbia; domestic developments in Serbian politics especially in the light of the possibility of parliamentary elections in the autumn; and the prospects for a viable settlement of Kosovo's 'final status' this year.

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    01June 2006
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    Civilian crisis management: the EU way

    The operational progress in civilian crisis management made by the EU since 1999 has been impressive and has helped to enhance the EU's reputation as a credible security provider. However, the realisation of EU political objectives related to the strengthening of international security does not depend merely on the improvement of the EU's operational capabilities.

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    29May 2006
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    Russian perceptions and approaches to cooperation in ESDP

    The European Union Institute for Security Studies was given the role of deepening cooperation with the Russian academic community in the field of crisis management. This paper is a first product of this joint research project. The objective here was for Professor Nikitin to explore in a frank manner how Russian elites and observers view the EU, ESDP and key security developments around Russia.

  • 01May 2006
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    Long Term Vision

    Last November, EU Defence Ministers mandated the European Defence Agency (EDA) to develop a Long Term Vision (LTV) for European Military Capability Needs, with the horizon of 2025. This exercise, known as the LTV's Strand One, was developed alongside two parallel and interconnected strands of work, addressing the Future Military Environment and Technological Trends.

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    01April 2006
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    The OSCE in crisis

    The OSCE is in crisis. There can be no doubt but that the OSCE today, as compared to its heyday during the Cold War and in the mid-1990s, is a far less visible landmark on the European institutional landscape than was formerly the case.

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    01April 2006
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    Un an après

    Près d’un an après la crise politique ouverte par les « non » français et néerlandais au référendum sur la Constitution européenne, le bilan de l’Union en matière de sécurité et de défense témoigne toujours d’une dynamique ascendante.

  • 03March 2006
    Developing a European security perspective on China

    In response to the growing interest in Chinese affairs and the manifest uncertainty in the EU about how to approach this new emerging superpower, the EUISS organised on 3 March 2006 a brainstorming seminar dedicated to the development of European security thinking on China.

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    01March 2006
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    EU security and defence — Core documents 2005 - Volume VI

    A year of striking contrasts, 2005 will go down in the annals as a year in which the European Union experienced a major political crisis, while at the same time showing remarkable dynamism on the international stage. This volume contains as comprehensive a compendium as possible of the initiatives undertaken by the European Union in the field of security and defence in 2005.

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  • 28March 2002
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    Europa potenza civile

    Che l'Unione europea non sia una potenza comparabile agli Stati Uniti risulta evidente dai fatti, a cominciare dal gap crescente - tecnologico e di bilancio - fra gli investimenti militari delle due sponde dell'Atlantico. Che neanche debba porsi l'obiettivo di emulare gli Stati Uniti è invece meno evidente.

  • 13March 2002
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    It’s time for a trans-Atlantic summit

    One of the most striking examples of the potential for new transatlantic solidarity after the September 11 terrorist attacks was the publication by the French newspaper Le Monde, not known to be reflexively pro-American, of an editorial entitled "We are all Americans." The degree to which that solidarity has now dissipated was illustrated by a rather different headline in that same newspaper five months later: "Has the United States gone crazy?"...

  • 27February 2002
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    Un Telefono per l’Europa

    Fra le oltre 50 domande sul futuro dell’Europa contenute nel testo della Dichiarazione di Laeken, un gruppo abbastanza consistente riguarda il ruolo internazionale dell’Unione e, in particolare, il possibile sviluppo di una politica estera e di difesa piu’ "coerente" ed efficace.

  • 25February 2002
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    Europe, Etats-Unis : Eviter le pire des deux mondes

    Aux Etats-Unis, l'explosion de l'effort militaire - 1 milliard de dollars de dépenses par jour - frappe autant par l'ampleur des chiffres annoncés que par l'implosion réciproque du discours politique américain. Comme si la stratégie militaire tenait lieu à elle seule de toute stratégie.

  • 01February 2002
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    Stagnation of the ESDP

    "Revolutionary", it was called, the development of EU defence after the famous Franco-British summit in St-Malo, early December 1998. In the period from St-Malo to Nice, we witnessed the creation of an elaborate and well-functioning EU defence institutional framework, working out EU defence policy.

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    01February 2002
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    The old and the new

    Having devoted the last quarter of 2001 to negotiations on a whole corpus of legal, administrative, social and financial provisions, the Institute is once again operational as an autonomous agency of the Union, financed by the fifteen Member States but still completely independent in the choice of issues it works on and its output.

  • 20January 2002
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    Arming for the future

    Europe needs to get its security and defense act together. What would have happened if the Sept. 11 attacks had targeted La Défense in Paris or London's Canary Wharf? Would the United States have waged war on their behalf in Afghanistan? Could the Europeans have done it themselves? Neither is probable. So what could the Europeans have done and what in the future should they aim to be able to do?

  • 01January 2002
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    European and Transatlantic Defense Industrial Strategies: A European perspective

    The history of transatlantic armaments cooperation goes back to the beginning of the Cold War. Since then, however, the nature of cooperation has changed considerably, from simple licensing of US systems to Western Europe in the 1950s and 1960s to co-production arrangements in the 1970s, followed by government-to-government joint development programs in the 1980s and 1990s. In recent years, industry-led cooperation has become the most prominent feature

  • 13December 2001
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    Defence Spending in Europe: Is Europe Prepared to Pay for Improved Capabilities?

    Paper given at the Conference on ESDP organised in Paris on 13-15 December 2001 by the Cicero Foundation

  • 01December 2001
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    Defence Industry Consolidation - Time for Political Action

    Over the last two years, cross-border consolidation of defence industries has been high on the agenda of European defence. However, public debate on this issue is often characterised by profound misunderstandings

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