Transnational challenges

There is a growing overlap between the EU’s internal and external security problems. Terrorism, organised crime and unregulated migration not only pose a threat to European internal security, but also have a serious impact on the stability of Europe’s immediate neighbourhood. Very often, they find their roots in conflicts and instability further abroad in Africa or Asia.

For some time, the European Union has been active in international debates on the governance of these challenges, and has created new policy instruments of its own. Already in the early 1990s, the EU successfully linked its home-affairs priorities with its Common Foreign and Security Policy. The 2015 migration crisis showed the limits of that approach, and has sparked a new wave of reforms.

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31July 2020
The EU’s chemical weapons sanctions regime
Briefs
By
Clara Portela, Erica Moret
Concerns about the erosion of the ‘taboo’ on chemical weapons use have deepened in recent years, in particular following the chemical weapons attacks that have taken place in the Syrian conflict. The sanctions regime against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which the EU adopted in October 2018 constitutes the Union’s first coercive instrument against chemical weapons, and is an attempt by the EU to support the multilateral chemical disarmament regime after efforts to frame a response via the United Nations Security Council failed.
15July 2020
EUISS foresight podcast – Season 2
The EUISS' ‘What if’ podcast returns for a second season, this time looking at the foreign policy implication of the covid19 crisis.
11June 2020
From bad to worse? The impact(s) of Covid-19 on conflict dynamics
Briefs
Katariina Mustasilta
The global crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak has had particularly disruptive consequences for conflict-affected countries around the world. Armed groups have capitalised on the crisis, while the global distraction caused by the pandemic has made it difficult to seize opportunities for peace. This Brief analyses key repercussions in conflict-affected countries in general, and in five countries in particular: Colombia, Libya, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen.
20May 2020
Who’s first wins? International crisis response to Covid-19
Briefs
Florence Gaub, Lotje Boswinkel
China has sought to demonstrate that its authoritarian political system has been more efficient at dealing with the coronavirus crisis than Western liberal democratic systems. This Brief examines the validity of this hypothesis, and concludes that predispositional factors – notably the demographic and age profile of a country – as well as whether a state had been previously exposed to a pandemic or not, were more important in shaping the authorities’ response than the political system in place.
30April 2020
Arctic stress test
Briefs
By
Simona R. Soare
In the three decades after the Cold War, the perception of ‘Arctic exceptionalism’, the sense that the Arctic region is immune from broader geopolitical tensions, prevailed. However, this notion is currently being challenged: climate change is accelerating the opening of new maritime trade routes and exploitation of natural resources in the region, while great power competition between the US, Russia and China in the Arctic is intensifying, changing regional power dynamics.
17April 2020
Cyber conflict uncoded
Briefs
By
Patryk Pawlak, Eneken Tikk, Mika Kerttunen
The complex nature of cyber conflicts makes it difficult to design effective, targeted conflict prevention instruments. Yet existing approaches to prevent conflict in cyberspace have, so far, brought about very little change in state behaviour. How might the EU lead the way in preventing conflicts from escalating or breaking out?
17March 2020
A blacklist is (almost) born
Briefs
By
Clara Portela
In the sanctions practice of the EU, human rights motivations feature prominently, reflecting their centrality to the Union’s foreign policy. This Brief discusses plans to create a new EU sanctions regime addressing gross human rights violations. It examines the various challenges surrounding the initiative and its implementation, and argues that the way forward could be to disaggregate the proposed sanctions regimes into two separate strands: one dealing with breaches of international humanitarian law and a second addressing human rights abuses linked to large-scale transnational corruption.
04March 2020
Building EU resilience against the extraterritorial effects of U.S. sanctions
On 4 March 2020, Clara Portela organised a closed-door workshop in Brussels on 'Building EU resilience against the extraterritorial effects of U.S. sanctions'. The workshop brought together experts on sanctions from various disciplines with officials from Member States and EU institutions.
19February 2020
Canada-Europe Track 1.5: emerging technology and cyber policy
The EUISS, Global Affairs Canada, EEAS and the CIGI hosted a cyber workshop in Brussels’.
24January 2020
What if...? 14 futures for 2024
Chaillot Papers
Edited by
Florence Gaub
With contributions from
Alice Ekman, Giovanni Faleg, Daniel Fiott, Gustav Lindstrom, Katariina Mustasilta, Roderick Parkes, Patryk Pawlak, Clara Portela, Sinikukka Saari, Stanislav Secrieru, Simona R. Soare, Nathalie Van Raemdonck, John-Joseph Wilkins
According to a famous science fiction film, the future is what you make of it. This Chaillot Paper takes this quote from Back to the Future to heart, proposing 14 different portraits of the future for the year 2024.

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12April 2017
Out of Syria: shifting routes and returns
Alerts
By
Roderick Parkes
As the Syrian conflict grows in complexity, so too do the flows of people inside the country and into the neighbouring region. This Alert identifies three major shifts which will affect migration flows.
05April 2017
SMS – Global migration: getting the trends right
By
Roderick Parkes, Annelies Pauwels

The second in the new EUISS series of Security Monthly Stats (SMS) looks at the sensitive issue of global migration. Are there really more migrants than ever before? And are people from the ‘global South’ migrating northwards?
05April 2017
The EU migration crisis – Getting the numbers right
Briefs
By
Roderick Parkes, Annelies Pauwels
The 2015 migration crisis revealed gaps in the EU’s migration-related statistics. This Brief looks at how unreliable migration data can be manipulated, and seeks to reverse the narratives which are put forward by certain actors in order to pursue their own agendas.
29March 2017
Securing the Energy Union: five pillars and five regions
Reports
By
Gerald Stang
With contributions from
Dimitar Bechev, Eamonn Butler, Zuzanna Nowak, Simone Tagliapietra, Kirsten Westphal
This Report examines the energy challenges facing the different regions of Europe, investigating shared priorities and common projects, as well as barriers to integration and cooperation. A series of chapters devoted to distinct regions examines what role the Energy Union can play to help address their energy challenges, including those related to energy security and relations with external suppliers.
08March 2017
Preventing terrorism in the south
Briefs
By
Annelies Pauwels

To step up the fight against terrorism, the EU is looking to forge closer ties with strategic countries in its Southern Neighbourhood. The Union’s initiatives to set up counter-terrorism dialogues in the region have, however, been met with a hesitant response. How can the EU overcome different interpretations of what effective counter-terrorism should look like?
08March 2017
Trends in terrorism
Alerts
By
Florence Gaub
Although it is not the first time that Europe has experienced terrorism, for many Europeans, the phenomenon appears to be the most dangerous form of political violence today. So what is old and what new about today’s terrorism?
02March 2017
Counter-terrorism cooperation with the southern neighbourhood
Reports
Florence Gaub, Annelies Pauwels
Since the EU adopted its Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2005, it has focused on forging closer ties with third countries in the fight against terrorism. This study outlines and contextualises current counter-terrorism activities in the region.
22February 2017
Women in peacebuilding: the EU & others
Alerts
By
Michaela Šimáková
Since the 1990s, the EU's gender mainstreaming strategy has spread to its foreign policy, including its CSDP. What concrete steps has it taken to promote women in the field of peace and security?
08February 2017
The refugee-development nexus
Briefs
By
Annelies Pauwels, Roderick Parkes
In a marked shift from previous policies, many advanced economies are creating labour market integration initiatives for refugees. This Brief argues that although this might seem a shortcut to a more progressive strategy, it risks undermining the integrity of refugee policy and repeating the mistakes of the 1990s.
10November 2016
Managing migration abroad – Why, where, what and how?
Briefs
By
Roderick Parkes
Because of the intertwining of internal and external security matters, the EU’s model of dealing with crisis is being challenged. This Brief looks at how integrating different approaches and distinct practises across the EU may come to represent the key change for policymakers.

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20April 2016
Florence Gaub at the European Parliament
Florence Gaub was invited to testify at the Subcommittee on Security and Defence.
03February 2016
Cyber Security Conference – EU Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy
On 3-4 February 2016, EUISS and ICDS co-organised a conference in Estonia on ‪the role of Cyber ‪‎Security in the EU Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy.
12January 2016
Climate change and European foreign policy after COP21
This conference brought together European policy experts to review the COP21 climate conference in Paris, and to discuss the integration of climate change into the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS).
13March 2015
EU-China Strategic Dialogue 2015
On 13 March, the EUISS and the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) held their annual exchange of views in Beijing.
23February 2015
Cyber NEEDS and development: identifying the needs of Networks Enhancing the Economy, Development and Security (NEEDS)
On the 23-24 February 2015, the EUISS and the European Commission DG International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) organised the international conference on cyber capacity building in Brussels.
17February 2015
Arctic security matters
On 16 February, the EUISS hosted a workshop to explore the increasing importance of the Arctic.
30September 2014
Women & war: women & armed conflicts and the issue of sexual violence
This Colloquium, coorganised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the EUISS on 30 September in Brussels, focused on the theme of women and war and the challenges for the EU, humanitarian organisations and other concerned actors in this space.
23May 2014
Crisis management 2014: the EU record
On 23 May, the EU Institute for Security Studies hosted a double event in Brussels ‘Crisis management 2014: the EU record’ in order to present both its ‘Yearbook of European Security: YES 2014’ and the EUISS/EEAS book ‘Crisis Rooms: towards a global network?’
10April 2014
Achieving EU energy security in light of the new 2030 climate/energy goals
The EUISS hosted a seminar on European energy security on Thursday 10 April in Brussels in order to facilitate a free exchange of ideas on the energy security dimension of EU energy policy and introduce the latest EUISS energy-related report.
13March 2014
Cyber capacity building as a development issue: What role for regional organisations?
To stimulate the debate on cyber capacity building and the impact it has on social and economic development worldwide, the EUISS has hosted a major conference in Paris with participants coming from international and regional organisations, governments, the private sector, and civil society.

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Transnational challenges

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