Rethinking the EU as a Global Security Actor
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and ultimately the return of power politics, has demonstrated the need for a stronger and more capable European Union in the field of security and defence. The new EU Strategic Compass sets out an action plan for such an endeavour until 2030. Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has called it the “EU’s geopolitical awakening”.
However, integration in this domain is a theme that is both broad and complex. You can think about the EU as a global security actor in terms of its necessity: Why does the EU need to adopt a stronger security role? What are the possible responses on the global stage? Fostering EU integration in matters of security and defence has been omnipresent throughout the last decades, but is now the time to follow through with it?
Speakers
Tania Latici
Policy officer in the Security and Defence Policy Division (SECDEFPOL) at the European External Action Service. Her department was responsible for drafting the EU’s Strategic Compass 2022. She is also an associate fellow at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels.
Twitter: @TaniaLatici
General Bart Laurent
Director of Operations within the EU Military Staff at the European External Action Service (EEAS). Prior to that, he was Mission Force Commander of the European Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali and led the 2021 EU evacuation operation in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Twitter: @Gen_BartLaurent
Nick Witney
Senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). His topics of focus range from the European Security and Defence Policy to the Middle East Peace Process. He previously served as the first chief executive of the European Defence Agency in Brussels.
ECFR: Nick Witney
Organiser
Email: andrea@idrn.eu
Twitter: @andrearociol