Leading European figures have called for stepped-up European de-escalation efforts in the Middle East, following a series of attacks in Iraq that have culminated in the killing of Qassem Suleimani and missile attacks against US airbases. The UK foreign policy think-tank, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), published a statement calling on European governments to…
We publish here in full, with the permission of the authors, the text of a report first published on 23 December) by the Institute for Global Threats and Democracy Studies (www.igtds.org). The bottom of the Baltic Sea may contain nuclear waste burial sites made by the Russian military in the early 1990s. This complements the…
Today, the Council prolonged the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 July 2020. This decision follows an update by President Macron and Chancellor Merkel to the European Council on 12 December 2019 on the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements, to which the decision on maintaining sanctions is linked. Given that the…
Defence ministers have shared their expectations and views ahead of the presentation of the first full Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) Report which will be delivered to the Steering Board in November 2020. Ministers took the opportunity to highlight their expectations and share success factors they deem important ahead of delivery of the first full…
The European Defence Agency (EDA) has for the first time been chosen to support the development of a PESCO project as an Agency initiative, in line with the PESCO commitment to use EDA as the European forum for project capability development. The Austrian-lead project, CBRN Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS), will provide a rapidly…
The Council adopted a crisis management concept for a new civilian CSDP Advisory Mission in the Central African Republic (EUAM RCA). The mission will support the reform of the internal security forces to enable the CAR authorities to mitigate the current security challenges in the country. EU experts will support the Ministry of the Interior and the internal security forces,…
The OCEAN2020 project, managed by a 42 partner consortium from 15 EU countries, has successfully launched its first sea demonstration in the Gulf of Taranto, Italy. The OCEAN2020 Live Sea Demonstration involves a total of 9 unmanned assets and six naval units from Italy, Spain, Greece and France. The deployment of manned and unmanned systems,…
France’s choice for its next commissioner has won the support of the EPP group. “Thierry Breton showed himself to be a very experienced person who possesses both knowledge of the content and the managerial skills to take up the position as Commissioner for the Internal Market. He has the green light from us”, said Christian Ehler MEP,…
A sensitive report into Russian interference in the Brexit referendum campaign in 2016 is being sat on by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.The report is the work of the Intelligence and Security Committee of the UK parliament, chaired by Dominic Grieve. Before it can be published, the Prime Minister must give his approval for publication,…
Western nations need to build closer partnerships with the private sector to sharpen NATO and the European Union responses to hybrid security threats, participants at a unique day-long exercise concluded on Thursday. “Hybrid warfare is now real warfare,” Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe and former Deputy Assistant General at NATO. “This is an…
