The CSDP after the December Summit: To Rebalance, the EU Should Focus Less on Missions and More on Security and Defence Cooperation

Abstract:

In December 2013 the heads of state and government for the first time in five years dedicated their European Council summit mainly to the Common Security and Defence Policy.

In the run-up to the meeting there was no shortage of piecemeal proposals for enhancing the effectiveness of the CSDP and strengthening military capabilities and the European defence industry. What has been lacking is an overarching vision of where the CSDP should be heading and how individual reform initiatives should be prioritised.

For sure, the European Council did not provide such a vision but instead decided on a number of follow-on processes. These now need to be exploited to the fullest possible extent in order to create a new foundation for the CSDP, which should be shifted away from crisis management towards European security and defence cooperation.