European Union

MEPs need to follow the lead of the European Ombudsman and force the European Commission to shine the light on the opaque role of national Export Credit Agencies, writes Antonio Tricarico.

Former Macedonian leader Nikola Gruevski wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday that "today, the Republic of Hungary, an EU and Nato member country, responded positively to my previously submitted request for political asylum". Macedonia, which Hungary considers to be a safe country, has asked to have him extradited to serve a sentence on corruption charges, but Gruevski is an ally of Hungary's right-wing ruler, Viktor Orban, making that unlikely.

Lithuania has threatened to quit Interpol, along with Ukraine, if the international police agency elects a Russian official as its new president on Wednesday.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq, today attended the inauguration of the Cyber education, training, exercise and evaluation (ETEE) platform at the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), where H.E. Savvas Angelides, Minister of Defence of Cyprus gave a keynote speech. Led by the ESDC, the platform builds on the support already provided by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission.

The main task of the ETEE platform within the ESDC is the coordination of cyber security and defence training and education for EU Member States. The existing training will be harmonised and standardised and new courses will close the gaps between training needs and training activities. These efforts will be jointly undertaken by various stakeholders and partner organisations.

‘Looking at the future, the platform’s success is very much in the hands of the Member States.  There is much to be achieved and the Executive Academic Board on Cyber (EAB.Cyber) under the chair of the ESDC is an excellent forum to manage the future’, Mr Domecq said in his speech.

In response to Member States’ requirement to fill the skills gap in cyber defence, EDA played an important role in developing the design proposal of this platform, following the results of a relevant feasibility study which were properly adapted to the actual Member States’ needs.

The Global Strategy  already referred to cyber attack as a serious threat to be dealt with in order to protect the EU citizens and a threat to national security due to the disruptive potential of these attacks and their high impact on modern societies.

Heads of State and Government identified cyber among the four key capability shortfalls in Europe and Member States in the frame of PESCO already established projects on cyber, where EDA with its role in the PESCO secretariat but also in the frame of its mission for cooperative capability development provides support. 

Member States saw the need for coherence at EU level on cyber education, training and exercises already some 8 years ago, and voiced as such within the Capability Development Plan.  The EDA has worked on this priority with Member States, within the Project Team for Cyber Defence and with colleagues in the European External Action Service and Cyber was reconfirmed as a priority in the revised CDP.

Based on the EDA Cyber Defence Training Needs Analysis and the experiences gained in cyber security training of the ESDC, work was initiated to establish CSDP Training and Education for different audiences, including EEAS, personnel from CSDP missions and operations and Member States' officials.

The integration of ETEE into the existing structures of the ESDC was concluded and has been taken forward by EDA and ESDC throughout the course of this past year, resulting in a vehicle to enable sustained delivery of cyber defence education, training and exercise services and products, while seeking synergies with respective NATO initiatives, also in the frame of the implementation of the EU-NATO Joint Declaration.
 

More information:

• Cyber defence (EDA project page)
• ESDC statement on Cyber Platform

 

 

 

Written by Cemal Karakas (1st edition),

© luzitanija / Fotolia

In June 2018, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal on a European Defence Fund, including a budget allocation of €13 billion in current prices for the 2021 to 2027 period. The proposal aims to streamline and simplify the current legislation by integrating the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (research window) and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (as one part of the capability window) into a single fund. The main aims of the fund are to foster the competitiveness and innovativeness of European defence and to contribute to the EU’s strategic autonomy. In this regard, the fund would support collaborative industrial projects; co-finance the costs of prototype development; encourage the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises; and promote projects in the framework of permanent structured cooperation. Synergies are expected with other EU initiatives in the field of cybersecurity, maritime transport, border management, Horizon Europe, the space programme and the European Peace Facility.

Versions

• November 2018: ‘European Defence Fund: Multiannual financial framework 2021-2027‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation establishing the European Defence Fund Committee responsible: Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) COM(2018) 476
13.6.2018 Rapporteur: Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Poland) 2018/0254 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

 

  Françoise Grossetête (EPP, France)
Edouard Martin (S&D, France)
Dominique Riquet (ALDE, France)
Neoklis Sylikiotis (GUE/NGL, Cyprus)
Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Fabio Massimo Castaldo (EFDD, Italy)
Christelle Lechevalier (ENF, France) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Vote in committee

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) ministerial Steering Board met this Tuesday morning under the chairmanship of the Head of the Agency, Federica Mogherini. Defence ministers notably discussed the CARD Trial Run Report, the implementation of the 11 new EU Capability Development Priorities and the Agency’s 2019 budget.
 

Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD)

Ministers discussed the main findings, recommendations and lessons learned of the CARD Trial Run report and agreed to establish CARD as a standing activity with the first full cycle to be launched in autumn 2019. Some main findings indicate that Member States still carry defence planning and acquisition mostly from a national perspective.

CARD will provide the overview that will allow Member States to better coordinate their defence planning and spending and engage in collaborative projects, improving consistency in Member States defence spending and overall coherence of the European capability landscape. The report also confirmed an upwards trend of defence spending over the 2015-2019 period, even if it also shows that investment in defence research and development has decreased over recent years.

The CARD ‘lessons learned’ for the future will be further explored in a series of workshops organised by EDA in the coming weeks and months.

“CARD is designed to be a ‘pathfinder’ helping Member States to get a better picture of the European capability landscape and identifying new opportunities for cooperation on capability development and procurement, while avoiding duplication of work with NATO”, Jorge Domecq, EDA’s Chief Executive, commented.
 

Implementation of the 2018 EU Capability Development Priorities

Last June, Member States approved 11 new EU Capability Development Priorities, which are the baseline and key reference for CARD, PESCO and the European Defence Fund.

Ministers were updated on their practical implementation which will be pursued through ‘Strategic Context Cases’ for each of the 11 priorities together with Member States, in close coordination with the EU Military Committee (EUMC) and the EU Military Staff (EUMS), also involving the EU defence industry. The first version of the 11 ‘Strategic Context Cases’ will be presented to the steering board in June 2019 for approval.
 

2019 budget

Ministers discussed the Agency’s general budget 2019 on the basis of a proposal (€35 million) made by the Head of the Agency and reflecting the increasing demands on the Agency, including in relation to CARD, PESCO, the European Defence Fund or new activities such as Military Mobility. Ministers were unable to reach a unanimous agreement. Member States will revert to the issue shortly.

 

EDA press contacts

Helmut BRULS
Media & Communications Officer
helmut.bruls@eda.europa.eu
T+32 2 504 28 10

Catherine CIECZKO
Media & Communications Officer
catherine.cieczko@eda.europa.eu
T+32 2 504 28 24

 

 

 

 

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Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

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