Forum on the European Union's security interests
Republic of Chad: a EUFOR special forces vehicle (Goz Beida)
© F. de La Mure
- from: 02.10.2008
- to: 03.10.2008
- In: Paris, Maison des Arts et Métiers
This forum, which will bring together European experts in Paris on 2 and 3 October, is the last of a series of three seminars held earlier this year in Italy, Poland and Finland on the European Security Strategy (ESS) adopted in 2003. It follows on from President Nicolas Sarkozy's December 2007 proposal to have a new debate on the ESS.
Over the past five years, the EU has made considerable strides in the implementation of this strategy, but a lot remains to be achieved. The changing global environment has seriously tested the institutions and the effectiveness of multilateral frameworks. These developments affect the EU's efforts to shape a world order able to cope with the challenges and threats identified in the ESS, namely: international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, failed states, and organised crime.
The forum will consider the achievements and failures of the EU as an international actor. In particular it will look at lessons learned from the missions of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and will consider how Member States' common interests can be translated into a common and coherent European policy.
The event will also provide the opportunity for a debate on the two French White Papers on defence and national security and on foreign and European policy. In this context, this forum will allow the community of experts who are participating to work towards a European consensus on collective visions and policies for the future, by focusing on the following questions:
o What are the lessons of the implementation of the European Security Strategy in terms of global governance and multilateralism, and in relation to Europe's neighbourhood?
o What will be the main threats and opportunities for the EU in the world of tomorrow?
o How to design and modify the EU's external action so as to make it more coherent and capable of responding to the challenges that confront it? What role does security and defence policy play in the EU's foreign policy?
- Updated: 23.12.2008
