The EU has proven that it has the political, civil and, with evident limitations, military capabilities to contribute to the settlement of conflicts. But the crisis management engagement in Libya by several European Air Forces showed that Europe is not able to conduct peace-enforcement missions on its own due to a lack of crucial strategic capabilities. Europe’s leaders will have to change course to master the cap.

Carrying out a foreign policy based on the comprehensive approach is absolutely essential The Lisbon Comprehensive Approach and the consequences for the CSDP

by Arnauld Danjean MEP, Chairman SEDE Committee, European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg

The European Union has the ability to mobilise a wide range of political, economic, and humanitarian instruments like no other organisation in the world. This unique potential has allowed the progressive shaping of EU foreign policy in a comprehensive way, whereby all EU instruments are combined in order to deal simultaneously with the different challenges posed by a particular crisis. The Lisbon Treaty has officially sanctioned this “comprehensive approach”, notably with the appointment of a new “double-hatted” High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS). It has provided the EU with a flexible and efficient framework in which to conduct its foreign policy. The EU has already started to implement the comprehensive approach. In the Horn of Africa, for instance, the EU engagement tackles all aspects of instability by combining CSDP military and civilian operations (EUNAVFOR Atalanta, EUTM Somalia and EUCAP Nestor) with political and diplomatic efforts and legal action, as well as training and development assistance through the EU Instrument for Stability and Development Fund. All these supporting actions are strongly entrenched within a system of close coordination with African and other international partners.

In a totally different context, the Western Balkans can also be seen as a key region for the EU’s efforts to combine all instruments at its disposal in order to move from a post-conflict policy towards an integration policy. Its commitments still include a military mission (in Bosnia-Herzegovina), a large and crucial civilian one (Eulex Kosovo) and financial, diplomatic and economic engagements through pre-accession funds, enlargement policy and trade agreements. Carrying out a foreign policy based on the comprehensive approach is absolutely essential if the EU and its Member States want to meet the evolving challenges and threats of today’s world. Indeed, dealing efficiently and for the long term with crises means being able to simultaneously tackle both the current symptoms, with rapid crisis-management instruments like the CSDP, and the root causes of the problem, using economic, development and humanitarian means.

The CSDP is the cornerstone of the EU’s security policy. Today 14 CSDP operations – 11 civilian and three military – are under way thoughout the world. Of the 11 civilian missions, three were launched in the summer of 2012 (EUCAP Nestor in the Horn of Africa, EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUAVSEC South Sudan), and another is being considered in order to support border

Four Resolutions on CSDP issues, prepared by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, have been on the agenda of the European Parliament’s Plenary Session from 19-22 November 2012. The topics were the implementation of the CSDP (Rapporteur: Arnauld Danjean); the political and operational dimensions of the EU’s mutual defence and solidarity clauses (Rapporteur: Ioan Mircea Pas¸cu); the role of CSDP in case of climate driven crises and natural disaster (Rapporteur: Indrek Tarand), and Cyber Security and Defence (Rapporteur: Tunne Kelam).

22 management in Libya. Through these operations the CSDP gives the Union’s actions political credibility and visibility. It is therefore imperative that the CSDP remains a decisive part of EU’s “comprehensive approach” – the EU’s preferred crisismanagement instrument. It should not be marginalised on any account. Indeed the risk of considering CDSP as a relatively marginal dimension of the comprehensive approach cannot be ruled out. This is especially the case with regard to the CSDP’s military component, which has thoroughly been left aside in recent years, with the exception of EUTM Somalia; and even though a number of crises would have justified an EU intervention (for instance in Libya and Mali), no new military operations have been launched since 2008.

Hence, all in all, it seems that EU decision-makers have come to favour a civilian approach to external action. This shift in EU foreign policy is nonetheless to be questioned in terms of the limits to “soft power”. At a time when the US is reorienting its defence policy priorities towards the Asia-Pacific area and when the financial and economic crisis has deeply challenged the EU Member States’ defence budgets and ability to act on their own, narrowing EU security policy to “soft power” would indeed seem to be quite a hazardous strategy. Two unwanted consequences could arise from this policy choice: it could profoundly, and for the long term, hamper our ability to intervene when needed (as the conflict in Libya – and before that the conflict in the Balkans – showed) and at the same time weaken our position in the international arena; but more worryingly, it could put at risk our own security, especially since it means that we are willing to delegate it – at least partly – to others. In that perspective, while the development of the “comprehensive approach” is to be welcomed, it should under no circumstances rule out recourse to military means. If the EU is to assert its status as a major player in the international arena it must give itself the means to do so.

Arnauld Danjean MEP Chairman of the EP Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) since 2009. He was born in 1971 in Louhans. Graduate (1992) and Postgraduate Diploma (DEA) in politics from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (1993). 1994–2004, Ministry of Defence, Paris. 2004–2005, Representative of the Secretary-General of the EU-Council/HR for the CFSP in Kosovo. 2005–2007, Adviser in the private office of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and then Director-adviser, EZL Consulting, Paris. Mr. Danjean is Member of the National Council of the UMP (Saône-et-Loire) and he is an elected member of the Bourgogne Regional Council.

Creation of a Cyber Academy With the development of computer technology IT security is becoming an increasingly important area. The widespread use of the Internet for private and business communications provides greater opportunities for criminal activity in the field of information and communications technology (ICT). Attacks by cyber terrorists against critical infrastructure constitute a further threat, and developments such as cloud computing and social networks pose a huge challenge for police, public prosecutors and local authorities. Those issues as well as data protection and compliance are addressed by the newly created Cyber Academy (CAK) in Germany. The Academy offers training and further training to keep pace with this rapid development of ICT and cyber crime. The course content is geared to participants’ requirements, enabling them to identify threats and to take appropriate action. The different training modules are geared to real-life situations and aim to maintain and increase participants’ professional performance potential thereby enhancing the administration’s quality and flexibility. The objective is to achieve a percentage of 30% of participants taking a certification exam (ISO 27001). > For further information: www.cyber-akademie.de

ESRT Global Cyber Security Conference The European Security Round Table (ESRT) together with the Ministry of Defence of Estonia is organising a high-level Global Cyber Security Conference on the 30th of January 2013 in Brussels. This is the third major conference in the framework of the ESRT Cyber Security Cycle, with previous Conferences in Brussels in June 2011 (European Cyber Security) and Washin

ton D.C. in May 2012 (Transatlantic Dimensions of Cyber Security). The upcoming Global Cyber Security Conference is a logical step further, aimed at establishing a broader forum beyond the European and Transatlantic level and focused on the cyber crime, digital and foreign dimensions of Cyber Security. The Conference takes place in the context of the issuance of the EU Cyber Security Strategy and aims at giving an opportunity to exchange views on the challenges of cyber security and convey the need of enhanced international coordination action in the field. > For more information:

www.security-round-table.eu