Tag: ESDP

"China sees the European Union as a possible balance to the United States," argues Dingli Shen, deputy director and professor from the Centre of American Studies in Fudan University, in the autumn edition of Europe's World.

"Kosovo is proving to be a difficult test for EU security and defence policy," argues a September report from the International Crisis Group (ICG), which urges the bloc to show more determination to deliver on international commitments and avoid compromising ongoing negotiations with Russia over the deployment of a new EU defence mission to Georgia.

Giving a boost to the European Defence and Security Policy (ESDP) features high on the agenda of the French Presidency, with the chances of substantial progress high due to France's role as a leading European military power. 

France and the UK are close to reaching an agreement that would "dramatically improve relations between the EU and NATO," according to a March policy brief by Tomas Valasek of the Centre for European Reform (CER).

The Lisbon Treaty will strengthen the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) but the scope of the changes will very much depend on the composition of the new troika to be appointed in 2009, according to MEPs and experts participating in a European Parliament workshop.

EU defence ministers decided at their meeting on 27 September to send an EU force into Chad and the Central African Republic to help protect civilians from violence in neighbouring Darfur.

A conference organised by Friends of Europe focused on the EU's influence on the international scene. The EU’s potential need of military capabilities to overcome new security challenges also emerged in the debate.

On 22 November 2004 the defence ministers of the European Union in Brussels decided in favor of the formation of so-called 'battle groups'. These mobile combat units, which could be ready for action within a few days and would be available for use in crisis situation. The goal of this initiative is to give the EU a military capacity to act in distant regions of conflict as well as to bolster the project of the “European Security and Defence Policy” (ESVP) militarily. This analysis from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation looks at how this decision should be assessed? Which problems will emerge for EU members? And - above all - can the concept be implemented within the planned timeframe?

The project of developing an independent European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) was launched by the Cologne European Council on 3-4 June 1999 as a distinctive part of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The aim of ESDP is to complete and thus strengthen the EU's external ability to act through the development of civilian and military capabilities for international conflict prevention and crisis management. The central vision behind it is outlined in the security strategy document  'A secure Europe in a better world'  by Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council. 

The EU's approval of the European Defence Agency comes as the defence industry warns against it becoming a mere "fig leaf".

The EU's leaders have approved a plan presented by Britain, France and Germany on EU defence policy. The plan is regarded as acceptable to the US and NATO.

The four neutral EU Member States are reportedly drawing closer to accepting the new Italian-sponsored mutual defence policy proposal.

Europe's leading aerospace and defence company has urged EU Member States to accelerate research and development projects aimed at establishing a European defence procurement and research agency.

The implications of the pending enlargement of the EU and NATO, and the broader context of European security were discussed at a security and defence conference in Brussels on 4 September.

Germany, France and Italy urged the easing of the EU's tough public spending rules, and Berlin pledged an additional 1,000 troops to an EU Rapid Reaction Force at the EU defence ministers' meeting on 19 May.

The defence ministers of the EU are expected to announce the operational capability of the 60,000-strong European Rapid Reaction Force at the 19-20 May session of the General Affairs and External Relations Council.

The decisive majority of the Union's citizens support the idea of a common foreign and security and defence policy, a new Eurobarometer survey reveals.

Two weeks before the scheduled defence mini-summit of Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, pressure is mounting within the EU for the extension of the initiative to "as many members as possible".

Accompanied by four cabinet ministers, British Prime Minister Tony Blair travels to France on 4 February for the annual one-day Anglo-French summit with President Jacques Chirac.

The New Defence Agenda was set up by Forum Europe in Brussels on 17 May to serve as a platform for discussing NATO and EU defence and security policies.

EU Foreign and Defence Ministers are meeting in Brussels on 14 May to discuss progress on creating a Rapid Reaction Force. Greece is blocking plans on EU-NATO defence co-operation because of its concerns over Turkey's influence on EU defence policy, and no agreement is likely before the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Rejkyavik on 14-15 May.