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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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    27September 2017
    The cybridisation of EU defence
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    This Alert explains the importance of the defence dimensions of Europe's cyber security efforts. In addition to exercises and training, the Union is now increasingly in a position to financially invest in cyber defence.

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    05July 2017
    EUPOL Afghanistan 2007/16: Mission Impossible?
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    This Brief presents an overview of the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL Afghanistan) – analysing the difficulties and challenges that the Mission faced from the time it was launched in 2007 until its closure in 2016. The Brief also identifies several ‘lessons learned’ that could be of benefit to future missions of this type.

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    07June 2017
    MPCC: towards an EU military command?
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    This Brief looks at the new ‘military planning and conduct capability’ (MPCC) structure. How did this come into existence? And what does it mean for the EU in terms of command structure?

  • 30May 2017
    The EUGS one year on: Challenges to European security – and EU responses

    This EUISS event launched two new EUISS publications at the one-year mark of the issuance of the EU Global Strategy. With the EUISS ‘Yearbook of European Security’ as the go-to source for facts and figures relevant to the EU and its external action, and ‘After the EUGS: building resilience’ as the third in the series of the EUISS books devoted to the EU Global Strategy and its implementation.

  • 19May 2017
    Security Sector Reform in the Southern Neighbourhood

    The seminar discussed a more tailored approach to Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the EU’s South, looking at challenges in the fields of criminal justice, policing, border control, and counter-terrorism.

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    17May 2017
    EUISS Yearbook of European Security 2017
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    The EUISS Yearbook of European Security (YES) is the Institute’s annual publication compiling key documents and data related to the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). This 2017 edition offers a comprehensive picture of the actors, institutions and processes that underpinned the Union’s foreign and security policy and external action in 2016.

  • 27April 2017
    Shared vision, common action, stronger Europe: Is the implementation of the EU Global Strategy meeting expectations?

    The EUISS and the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU organised a high-level conference on the EU Global Strategy (EUGS). Following a panel focusing on how the EUGS has driven the EU’s and member states’ foreign policy since June 2016, the conference encouraged debate on the security and defence aspects of the EUGS and the EU’s crisis management strategy for Libya.

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    26April 2017
    Funding EU defence cooperation
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    Through carefully targeted financial incentives the European Commission hopes that the European Defence Fund can help change the rules of the game for European defence cooperation. But how might the Commission structure or modulate it?

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    26April 2017
    The CARD on the EU defence table
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    This Alert looks at the coordinated annual review on defence (‘CARD’) announced at the end of 2016. How could CARD change the way defence cooperation operates in Europe?

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    26April 2017
    European defence cooperation in the second machine age
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    Over the past decades, defence cooperation has helped European countries preserve their security. Defence cooperation in the second machine age may, however, need to evolve and move beyond traditional joint procurement programmes to pertain also to new domains.

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    01January 2009
    CSDP Newsletter No.7
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    EULEX Kosovo is finally up and running after a long planning phase. It began operations on 9 December 2008 and has been breaking new ground for the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) as the EU's largest civilian mission.

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    31December 2008
    The EU, NATO and European Defence: a slow train coming
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    This paper examines the proposals on European defence under discussion during the 2008 French EU Presidency. While Americans and Europeans alike support stronger EU-NATO cooperation, the output has so far been unsatisfactory. The paper examines initiatives for a stronger, more unitary European security structure.

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    19November 2008
    Towards a European Defence Market
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    With contributions from

    EU governments are gradually coming around to the idea that they need to open up their defence markets. The European Commission is currently proposing new procurement and trade directives aimed at streamlining defence market legislation. The proposed directives would open up the defence market, improve European cooperation on armaments and lead to a more competitive European defence industry.

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    04November 2008
    Avoiding confrontational bipolarity
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    This issue of the EUISS newsletter looks at the need to avoid confrontational bipolarity in the wake Georgia conflict, assesses prospects for a regional solution to the Afghanistan conflict, and examines ESDP ten years after the St Malo Anglo-French summit. It also gives a round up of the Institute’s recent seminar series on the European Security Strategy, as well as the latest publications and press clippings.

  • 28October 2008
    Opening up European defence markets: the challenges ahead
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    It has become a cliché to observe that Europe’s armies need many new military capabilities. But EU governments are still doing very little to remedy the problem. European armed forces struggled to fight alongside the US during the Kosovo war in 1999 because they lacked sophisticated equipment.

    As a result EU governments signed up to a number of “headline goals” to improve their military prowess. But it is hard to find much concrete evidence of real improvements in European military equipment over the last decade.

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    23October 2008
    EU Security and Defence: Core Documents 2007 (Vol. VIII)
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    This chronological compilation brings together official documents on European security and defence, including statements, decisions and other material from the relevant EU structures. It is a valuable reference tool for all those interested in the EU’s common foreign and security policy, allowing for quick identification of the key issues on the agenda for the year 2007.

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    10October 2008
    Education and training for European defence equipment programmes
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    Cooperative programmes do not have a very positive image in some EU Member States because they have often implied delays, unanticipated costs, and long rounds of negotiations between partnering nations. Participating in a multinational programme without a shared approach and common understanding is bound to lead to problems.

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    25September 2008
    L’Union et les armes légères et de petit calibre (ALPC)
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    En mettant la priorité sur la prévention, l’Union européenne pourrait maximiser l’usage de ses ressources et le soutien des capacités des gouvernements et des sociétés pour lutter contre le fléau des armes légères, explique Damien Helly, chargé de recherche de l’IESUE sur l’Afrique, la prévention des conflits et de la gestion des crises.

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    01September 2008
    EU-UN cooperation in military crisis management: the experience of EUFOR RD Congo in 2006
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    Since its first autonomous military operation in the Congo in 2003, the EU has increased its role in military crisis management around the world. This paper looks at the often disappointing results of EU-UN cooperation, using the example of the EU’s later operation in the Congo in 2006...

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    28March 2008
    Why Kosovo?
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    The newest ESDP mission to Kosovo is a display of unity by the European Union, focused on the goal of ensuring stability grounded on the rule of law, including strict respect for minority rights, in the newly-independent state. The EU must achieve its objective while remaining a magnet for Kosovars and at the same time for the Serbs.

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  • 31October 2008
    2008 Annual Conference - Partnerships for effective multilateralism: managing global crises

    The Institute’s 2008 annual conference took place on 30-31 October in Paris. It opened with the traditional address by EU High Representative Javier Solana, who outlined the current challenges in EU foreign policy, particularly in the light of the global financial crisis.

  • 18September 2008
    Strengthening ESDP: the EU's approach to international security

    This seminar was the third in the EUISS’s 2008 series on the implementation of the European Security Strategy. Taking place in Helsinki on 18-18 September, it focused on the EU’s security and defence policy (ESDP).

  • 06June 2008
    The EU and global governance: rules, power and priorities

    The first seminar in the series addressing 'European Interests and Strategic Options' was held in Rome on 5 and 6 June 2008 in cooperation with the Istituto Affari Internazionali and addressed the Union’s goal to develop ‘an international order based on effective multilateralism’.

  • 14March 2008
    European Security and Defence Policy: Dialogue between the EU and its Mediterranean partners

    This high-level seminar held in Rabat in partnership with the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation examined Morocco's relationship with ESDP, including Moroccan involvement in EU and other peacekeeping missions to date, and priorities for cooperation between the EU and its Mediterranean partners.

  • 24September 2007
    Sino-European Strategic Dialogue

    The EUISS and the Asia Centre co-hosted the second Sino-European dialogue on security which focused on crisis prevention and crisis management, non-proliferation in the Korean Peninsula, promotion of stability in Africa, and the transparency of EU and Chinese defence policies.

  • 27June 2007
    Reviewing Conflict & Post-Conflict Management in Africa

    This seminar aimed at reviewing standard political and economical formula in implementing peace. As five ESDP operations have taken place in Africa, this seminar also aimed at identifying the international and local contexts in which the EU is developing its crisis management instruments.

  • 30May 2007
    Challenges in missile non-proliferation - multilateral approaches

    This conference, jointly organised with the German Presidency and the Council of the European Union, examined the challenges posed by missile proliferation and focused on the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC).

  • 16March 2007
    GMES: the security dimension

    This seminar was organised with the support of the Council General Secretariat, the European Commission, and the EU Satellite Centre and sought to raise awareness of the security dimension of GMES and to obtain guidance for implementation.

  • 29January 2007
    ESDP: from Cologne to Berlin and beyond: operations, institutions and capabilities

    In cooperation with the EUISS, the German Presidency of the European Union organised a conference held in the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on ESDP: addressing operations, institutions and capabilities.

  • 25September 2006
    Implementing the BTWC: challenges and prospects

    The EUISS held a conference on the Biological and Toxins Weapon Convention (BTWC) in order to examine the challenges associated with the implementation of the BTWC and possible implementation assistance requirements.

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