ESDC CSDP Orientation Course – for the first time in Sarajevo

Properly defining the role of the CSDP within the complex EU external action toolbox was the primary objective of this course, which was attended by 30 participants from the Western Balkans, EU Member States (MS) and institutions and third states.

Among other topics of interest, such as the EU Global Strategy, EU crisis management architecture and partnerships, participants debated the incentives and limitations that MS face when deciding to establish Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations. The aim was to prompt them to explore and discuss the various conditions and determinants that precede and determine decisions to launch CSDP missions and operations as crisis management options. Various diverging opinions were expressed in an open and frank manner, contributing to an increased understanding of the complex machinery of reaching consensus in an area where MS decide by unanimity.

The debate and the course concluded with the message that, in a context in which other international organisations and partners may have differing foreign affairs objectives, the EU remains distinctive in that it has the capacity to operate in an integrated manner to tackle conflict and crisis. As President of the Commission Ms Ursula von der Leyen put it during her Opening Statement in the European Parliament Plenary in July 2019:

‘[…] This is why we created the European Defence Union. Our work for our European Union of security and defence is embedded in comprehensive security. Stabilisation always comes with diplomacy, reconciliation and reconstruction.’

 

The course was co-organised by the Austrian National Defence Academy and Bosnia and Herzegovina Peace Support Operations Training Centre under the auspices of the ESDC, from 2 to 6 December 2019 in Sarajevo.