New Militär Aktuell series: Major General Johann Frank is now reporting on news and developments relating to the European Union’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) in every issue. This time in focus: Will the corona crisis become a catalyst for more military cooperation in the long term? Or is it rather acting as a centrifugal force?
Trump, Putin and BREXIT have led to the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) gaining momentum since 2016. Important new defense initiatives since then have included the creation of a new global strategy, the establishment of permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) to develop new military capabilities, the creation of new financing mechanisms such as the European Defense Fund (EDF) and institutional innovations such as the creation of a Military Planning Capability (MPCC) to independently lead non-executive missions such as training missions in Africa. The underlying political ambition is for the EU to gain strategic autonomy and assume more responsibility for its own security. In the midst of this positive development trend, the Covid crisis broke out, which has also become a defining factor for the CSDP. From today’s perspective, it remains to be seen whether the pandemic will become a catalyst for closer military cooperation or whether it will act as a centrifugal force. In the first phase of crisis management, the armed forces of almost all EU states were deployed as a strategic reserve for action and as a versatile crisis response force, either for humanitarian assistance or as law enforcement forces, for example in border management. At the same time, it has been possible to continue the EU’s international commitment, i.e. the current 17 missions and operations, with selective adjustments to the operational command. With the “IRINI” Mediterranean mission to monitor the arms embargo in Libya, a new mission was even decided. At the last virtual meeting on 12 May, the issue of the impact of Covid on the further development of CSDP was already on the agenda of the EU defense ministers. The ministers agreed that the crisis has shown that the development of EU strategic autonomy in all its dimensions, including military autonomy, must be driven forward quickly and that European and national defense budgets should not be reduced, even in the face of the economic crisis. In view of the new risks, more European cooperation is needed, not less, and the new defense initiatives that have already been adopted should be implemented swiftly and consistently. The lessons learned at conceptual, financial and capability level will be decisive for the long-term development of the CSDP. Conceptually, the question is whether, in addition to international crisis management, the deployment of the military within the EU should also be given greater consideration in future. Financially, the question is whether the member states will approve the EU Commission’s budget proposal of a total of 10.6 billion euros for the EDF and military mobility for the period 2021 to 2027 and how it can be avoided that national defense budgets are not reduced by around 20 percent, as was the case during the financial crisis in 2008. And at the level of capacities, the question arises as to which capability areas should be prioritized for investment. To clarify these questions, the EU defense ministers have commissioned the development of a “Strategic Compass”, a kind of white paper on defense.
The starting point for this process, which will be launched under the German EU Presidency in 2020, will be a comprehensive risk analysis. More on this in the next issue.
Click here for the next part of “CSDP in focus”: What goals do we want to achieve with the CSDP?
