The European Defence Programme focuses on the future of European defence, in the frameworks of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and NATO’s European pillar. It addresses the opportunities for enhancing EU-NATO relations, encouraging greater commitment to transatlantic burdensharing, strengthening the European defence industrial base and improving European cohesion on defence matters.
This weekend’s meeting between the EU, Azerbaijan and Armenia is timely and important, as there are real risks that the humanitarian emergency in Nagorno-Karabakh may be a prelude to wider escalation in the southern Caucasus, writes Jane Kinninmont. As the Minsk Group of governments tasked with addressing the conflict appears to be barely active, the EU role will be critical.
A new Russian offensive this year raises the threat of Belarus playing a more active role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Even though facts on the ground point to this being a less likely scenario, decision-makers should prepare for the unexpected. The situation could change at any moment, with the risk of the conflict widening.
This month, Chancellor Shultz wrote, “Germans are intent on becoming the guarantor of European security that our allies expect us to be, a bridge builder within the European Union and an advocate for multilateral solutions to global problems”. But to do so requires a “new strategic culture” in Germany’s security strategy – What shifts should we expect in the new Security Strategy and where do the main challenges lie?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a new impetus for the European Union to further its territorial and institutional integration. Nicholas Lokker writes that creativity and compromise will be essential to capitalising on this opportunity to increase the EU’s geopolitical influence.
With NATO leaders meeting in Madrid to agree on a new Strategic Concept, Adam Thomson and Graham Stacey argue that it must deliver modern deterrence fit for the next decade. They suggest four adjustments that would make NATO’s deterrence more effective at lower risk and lower cost.
Dr Ian Anthony examines confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) in Central and Eastern Europe and notes steps made by countries such as Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine to create and enhance bilateral discussion formats. This policy brief analyses these measures and examines their applicability to the current conflict in Ukraine and the European security order that will follow the war.
On Friday 14 June the ELN hosted a meeting of Balkan parliamentarians representing 12 countries at the House of Lords. This meeting launched an open-ended programme of work on Balkans security, with a focus on strengthening collaborative capacity among Balkans parliamentarians to address security matters.
ELN Policy Fellow Alice Billon-Galland participated in the Carnegie Europe Summer Academy on European defence industry in Brussels on June 20-21 2019.
Supported by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the forthcoming Finnish presidency, the seminar sought to specify the trade-offs for “European sovereignty” in security and defence.