Written by Patryk Pawlak,
Graphics by Christian Dietrich,
It was not invasion by a foreign army, or conflict between great powers, but increased migration of civilians escaping war, injustice or simply looking for better opportunities that demonstrated the fragility of the European Union’s security stance when confronted with a rapidly evolving security environment.
The EU Global Strategy (EUGS), presented by High Representative Federica Mogherini in June 2016, aims to give the European Union a collective sense of direction. However, not all 28 EU partners see eye to eye on this journey: while some wish to move faster and take shortcuts, others prefer to slow down, or sometimes follow a completely different path. Can everybody stay on course, move at the same pace and stay safe? Who leads the way?
On 8 November 2016, the European Parliamentary Research Service will host a roundtable to explore the ways forward in the implementation of the EU Global Strategy. The event entitled ‘The EU Global Strategy: From vision to action’, organised in cooperation with the EU Institute for Security Studies, provides an opportunity to discuss the challenges ahead and present ideas to Members of the European Parliament and EU officials directly involved in the process.
About the speakers
The keynote speaker is Antonio Missiroli, director of the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris (EUISS), who coordinated the EU-wide outreach to think tank and research community throughout the EUGS drafting process and was a member of the European Commission Group of Personalities on the Preparatory Action for CSDP-related research. In his latest opinion piece on making Europe and Europeans safer, Director Missiroli explores the concepts linked to European defence and asks whether perhaps the various policy ideas and treaty provisions that relate to defence need to be looked at in a different light.
Director Missiroli’s remarks will be a useful introduction to the roundtable discussion between Members of the European Parliament Sandra Kalniete (EPP) and Urmas Paet (ALDE) – both serving at the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) – and Director Gabor Iklody from the European External Action Service. Both Sandra Kalniete and Urmaes Paet are experienced politicians and served as Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Latvia and Estonia respectively. Sandra Kalniete was the AFET rapporteur for the European Parliament’s resolution on the EU in a changing global environment adopted in April 2016. Urmaes Paet is rapporteur for the AFET own-initiative report on the European Defence Union, which will be voted at the European Parliament’s plenary session in November 2016. Gabor Iklody manages Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) at the European External Action Service since June 2014. Prior to that, he served as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges.
Please check the programme for additional details and remember to register for the event before 4 November 2016.
