EU military operations budget under strain: the crisis, the EU and its Member States

Abstract

Economic stability in the eurozone is essential to the stability not only of the European Union, but of the world economy as a whole. The current economic crisis is posing serious challenges not only to the stability of the European economy, but also to the EU’s role as a global actor. The efficacy of European external action is seriously affected by the scant financial resources allocated to foreign and defense policies in the EU 2014-2020 budget, thus widening even more the existing expectations/capabilities gap of EU foreign policy.

The paper investigates the effects of the economic crisis on the EU 2014-2020 budget, in particular on the funding mechanism of European missions - so far one of the most prominent EU international activities. After having assessed the magnitude of the impact of the economic crisis on the EU external action, some recommendations are provided to achieve a more rational distribution of EU resources.

ISPI: Analysis: EU military operations budget under strain: the crisis, the EU and its Member States [PDF] http://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/analysis_157_2013_0.pdf

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