European Defence Summit: Time to Move Forward

• Agnieszka Nimark ^[1]
  1. [1] CIDOB
• Localización: Notes internacionals CIDOB, ISSN-e 2013-4428, Nº. 81, 2013, págs. 1-5
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • A qualitative leap forward in the CSDP development and EU defence cooperation is difficult to achieve without the European leaders figuring out first where we are today and what kind of challenges we would have to face in the years or even decades to come. A meaningful debate about the further development of CSDP cannot take place without an EU-wide defence review and security strategy revision.

    Discussing the ‘means’ without taking stock of what capabilities the EU actually has and what ‘ends’ are commonly agreed as being desirable would imply continued ‘business as usual’.

    The changing international strategic environment and the gradual American disengagement from Europe require a rethink of the EU’s role as security provider and a recalibration of EU-NATO relations. A new division of responsibilities of military engagement between the EU CSDP-NATO and within the Atlantic Alliance need to be place at the heart of European security debate.

    Limiting the outcome of the Defence Summit to a collective EU-28 restatement of the need for effective European military capabilities and the necessity of collaboration in order to acquire them without any decisive action by top EU level decision makers will further weaken the EU’s commitment to global security and in consequence the EU’s own security.