Where does the Compass point? The European Commission’s role in the development of EU security and defence policy

Håkansson, Calle

doi:10.1177/17816858221086425

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…"The war against Ukraine proves that Europe is in even greater danger than we thought only a few months ago, when the first draft of this Strategic Compass was presented," acknowledged Josep Borel in his foreword to the Strategic Compass [9]. Russia's war against Ukraine has undoubtedly changed the Compass in three ways: it has sharpened its focus, caused a surge in European defence spending, and increased the sense of urgency in its implementation [7]. Indeed, Russia's actions confirmed the European Defence Agency's assessment in November 2020, before the 2022 invasion, that European nations should urgently invest in main battle tanks, soldier protection systems/force protection technology, patrol surface ships, countering unmanned vehicles, air systems, developing defence and space capabilities, and military mobility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Strategic Compass pays particular attention to creating opportunities to improve the European Union's response to hybrid threats. It sets out a number of proposals for ensuring protection against hybrid threats, stating that they should include "preventive, cooperative, stabilising, containment and recovery measures, as well as strengthening solidarity and mutual assistance" [7]. In particular, these include the creation of EU hybrid rapid response teams, the strengthening of the EU's cyber diplomacy toolkit and the further development of the EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework.…”

Section: Strategic Compass Key Provisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stated that 2022 shall be regarded as the "year of European defence". The reason for this is the adoption of the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence of the European Union (EU), which aims to clarify and strengthen the Union's ambitions in the field of security and defence policy [7]. Although it is important to acknowledge that the issues formulated under the slogan of "strategic autonomy" of the EU have been on its agenda for a while.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eu Strategic Autonomy: Key Challenges and Obstacles to Its Achievement

Dorosh,

Lemko

2023

Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Science Development

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Taking into consideration the altered security landscape in Europe and globally, notably due to the Russian Federation's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, state-sanctioned terrorism, humanitarian and natural disasters, and hybrid challenges, significant increases in security risks for the EU have occurred. As a result of these events, the primary obstacles impeding the EU's attainment of strategic independence have been identified. This article focuses on the European Union's security strategy, namely PESCO and the Strategic Compass, which is one of the main documents governing the security sector. The EU's global security strategy also stresses the importance of reinforcing its defense capabilities. The strategy states that only a strong and unified EU can effectively counter contemporary challenges. The adoption of the Strategic Compass followed comprehensive analyses in the domains of crisis management, resilience, capacity-building, and partnership. The application of the principle of subsidiarity is recommended within its limits. However, clear channels and methods for interaction between various levels, encompassing EU institutions, member states, public and private sectors, as well as civilian and military entities, the EU and NATO, are advised. From a capacity development perspective, there is an emphasis on expanding the complementary relationship between the EU and NATO. The paper aims to examine the effect of these challenges on the EU, as demonstrated in the Global Security Strategy and Strategic Compass of the EU, and the Strategic Concept of NATO. The study's methodology is grounded in the broad research methods of the neo-institutional approach and the analysis of security institutions within the European Union. The results of the research showed that the main challenges to the EU's strategic autonomy are: the difficulties of coordinating the security policies of individual EU members, the difficulties of bridging the gap between their rhetoric and actions, the difficulties of determining Brussels' security priorities and its key projects in this area, where the Union's financial and institutional efforts should be directed, the financial challenges it faces, etc. It is argued that today, given the common security challenges, the coordination of EU and NATO efforts in responding to them is particularly important.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Strategic Compass Key Provisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eu Strategic Autonomy: Key Challenges and Obstacles to Its Achievement

Dorosh,

Lemko

2023

Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Science Development

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“…The Strategic Compass is a two-year 'white book exercise' that outlines new ambitions for the EU within the field of security and defence for the next decade (EEAS 2022;Fiott and Lindstrom 2021;Lațici and Lazarou 2021;Nováky 2021a;. One of the outcomes of the Strategic Compass is that it has strengthened the role of the European Commission within the policy field of security and defence (see Håkansson 2022a).…”

Section: Introduction 21mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Csernatoni and Reykers 2021;Herranz-Surrallés 2019;Håkansson 2022a; Lațici and Cseratoni 2020), such as in regard to the oversight of both national and European Parliament of the new supranational EU security and defence initiatives. Future studies should research and analyse these questions in greater depth.Another line of inquiry should focus on the institutional dynamics within the EU.…”

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confidence: 99%

The New Role of the European Commission in the EU’s Security and Defence Architecture: entrepreneurship, crisis and integration

Håkansson

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In recent years, the European Union (EU) has strengthened its foreign, security and defence policy in a remarkable way. Several new supranational security and defence initiatives have been launched and implemented, which have given the European Commission a new and central role in European security and defence policy. These swift developments are puzzling, since foreign policy and security and defence policy have long been understood as the ‘last bastions of sovereignty’ for EU member states and have thus been regarded as the least-likely cases for supranational integration. This thesis shows how the Commission has been the central driver behind these changes; it does so by conducting three focused case studies/articles to explore and explain the evolution of a new and enhanced role for the European Commission in EU security and defence cooperation during the period 2014–2023. By researching the establishment of the European Defence Fund, the EU Military Mobility project and the new policies and initiatives developed after Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, this dissertation analyses new competences for the European Commission within EU security and defence policy. This dissertation conceptually and analytically builds on diverse strands of integration literature, drawing on neofunctionalism, the Commission’s policy entrepreneurship and agenda setting, and crisis pressure to retrace in detail these three important empirical processes. The main contribution of this dissertation is to show how the European Commission’s initiatives and strategies have been indispensable in the strengthening of EU integration within security and defence.

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Where does the Compass point? The European Commission’s role in the development of EU security and defence policy

Cited by 2 publications

References 27 publications

Eu Strategic Autonomy: Key Challenges and Obstacles to Its Achievement

Eu Strategic Autonomy: Key Challenges and Obstacles to Its Achievement

The New Role of the European Commission in the EU’s Security and Defence Architecture: entrepreneurship, crisis and integration

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