Daniel Fiott

Tag: Defence

  • Military CSDP operations: strategy, financing, effectiveness

    This chapter looks at the intersection of the legal and operational parameters in which military operations are deployed under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). To this end, the chapter focuses on the challenges related to ‘mission creep’ and the flexibility of operational objectives, to the financial and…

  • The Multiannual Financial Framework and European Defence

    Thirteen billion euros. This amount of money is perhaps of little significance when taken as a stand-alone item in the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). But in light of the fact that the European Commission has requested this amount for defence research and capability development, it becomes much more…

  • Strategic Autonomy: Towards ‘European Sovereignty’ in Defence?

    Strategic autonomy. Two familiar words that are yet again in vogue in Europe but which cause confusion and, in some quarters, even alarm. The last time strategic autonomy stirred controversy was in 2003 during the run-up to the Iraq War, but perhaps the most well-known instance followed the Balkan crisis…

  • Artificial Intelligence: What Implications for EU Security and Defence?

    Consider a world where human decision-making and thought processes play less of a role in the day-to-day functioning of society. Think now of the implications this would have for the security and defence sector. Over the next few decades, it is likely that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not only have…

  • Yearbook of European Security 2018

    Abstract The EUISS Yearbook of European Security (YES) 2018 is the Institute’s annual publication compiling key information and data related to the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in 2017. YES 2018 opens with a preface by Federica Mogherini, High Representative for…

  • EU Defence Capability Development: Plans, Priorities, Projects

    Enthusiasts of strategic studies will be familiar with the tripartite, quasi-mathematical equation of ends, ways and means. Over a period of 18 months or so – beginning in June 2016 with the publication of the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) and culminating with Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in December 2017 –…

  • Protecting Europe, Permanently? The Future of EU Defence

    One of the first initiatives that emerged from the EU Global Strategy was the formation of a single military planning and conduct capability for the strategic command of some of the EU’s military CSDP operations. The logic is that having a single command structure for operations, as opposed to an…

  • Towards Military Mobility?

    The idea that the transportation of military personnel and equipment within Europe is still subject to physical, legal and regulatory barriers may seem odd, especially given the freedom of movement experienced under the Schengen Agreement and the nature of collective deterrence as defined by NATO’s founding Washington Treaty. NATO has…

  • Permanent Structured Cooperation: What’s in a Name?

    Abstract Permanent Structured Cooperation (PeSCo), the so-called ‘sleeping beauty’ of EU defence, is awake. Still barely predictable only a year ago, PeSCo is an ambitious, binding and inclusive legal framework aimed at incentivising defence cooperation among member states. PeSCo is based on binding commitments between member states that could promote…

  • The Cybridisation of EU Defence

    While the issue of cyber security is pervasive, cyberdefence is not. Not only are documents such as the EU Global Strategy replete with references to the challenges emanating from cyber, but EU member states and institutions are taking important steps (such as greater investment in cyber capabilities and the establishment of dedicated national…

  • European defence, 60 years after the Treaty of Rome

    The symbolism of the Capitoline Hill, where the Treaty of Rome was signed over sixty years ago, cannot have been lost on the original signatories of the treaty. As the former location of temples to the gods Saturn and his son Jupiter, the Capitoline Hill embodied wealth, renewal and liberation.…

  • Defence in Detail

    Abstract The following pages bring together data on defence spending from three different sources: the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Data for 2016 from the EDA were not available at time of publication. IISS and SIPRI figures dis-…

  • The CARD on the EU Defence Table

    In the 14 November 2016 Council conclusions, member states recognised that there was a need to ‘deepen defence cooperation and ensure more optimal use, including coherence, of defence spending plans’. Although the European Defence Agency (EDA) has been working towards these objectives since 2004, a more ‘structured way to deliver…

  • Patriotism, Preferences and Serendipity: Understanding the Adoption of the Defence Transfers Directive

    The 2009 adoption of the EU directive on intra-Community transfers of defence equipment (‘ICT directive’) (2009/43/EC) aims to harmonize defence transfer licencing in the EU. The directive is part of a ‘defence package’ – along with a directive on defence procurement (2009/81/EC) – that is geared to liberalizing and regulating…

  • European Defence: The Year Ahead

    After several months of intense work, the European Union ended 2016 having agreed to a number of fresh initiatives designed to articulate (and act on) a new level of ambition for security and defence. Under the overall direction laid down by the EU Global Strategy (EUGS), a specific plan on…

  • Making Europe and Europeans Safer

    One of the criticisms associated with plans for closer European defence cooperation is that there are no new ideas around. The ‘EU Battlegroups’, ‘Permanent Structured Cooperation’, even the idea for an ‘EU Operational Headquarters’ or a ‘Defence Semester’ are seen as old and sometimes unwieldly initiatives, reminiscent of debates that…

  • After the EU Global Strategy: Security and Defence – Consulting the Experts

    Following the publication of the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS) in June, attention has now turned to how the strategy can concretely be implemented. A  Security and Defence Implementation Plan (SDIP) will focus on the EU’s ability – primarily through the CSDP – to respond to…

  • After the EU Global Strategy: Connecting the Dots

    The EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS) is quite candid about the challenges facing European defence and it understandably calls for defence cooperation to become the norm rather than the exception. The new strategy provides Europe with a realistic analysis of the present challenges and it lays…

  • A Revolution Too Far? US Defence Innovation, Europe and NATO’s Military-Technological Gap

    The United States is launching another defence innovation initiative to offset the growing military-technological might of countries such as China, Russia and Iran. However, by utilising emerging technologies from the commercial sector to achieve greater military power the US may further open up the technology gap within NATO. This raises…

  • Modernising NATO’s Defence Infrastructure with EU Funds

    A quietly important element of NATO’s Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the 2014 Wales Summit, is the Alliance’s need ‘to reinforce its eastern Allies through preparation of national infrastructure, such as airfields and ports’. Put simply, without the necessary infrastructure, including transportation networks and hubs, and energy supply lines,…

  • Supporting European Security and Defence with Existing EU Measures and Procedures

    Focusing on the support of non-CSDP policies for CSDP measures, both in the field of crisis management and defence, this study submits that CSDP cannot effectively contribute to EU external action by itself, but only in coherence with other EU policies and instruments. The study focuses on nine different issue…

  • The Common Security and Defence Policy: National Perspectives

    When one looks at the present state of the CSDP, “one cannot help but look on with disenchantment”, states Pierre Vimont in his foreword to this collective Egmont Paper, edited by Daniel Fiott. And yet: from the essays assembled here, one cannot but conclude that European defence is not only indispensable,…

  • The European Commission and the European Defence Agency: A Case of Rivalry?

    This article analyzes relations between the European Commission and the European Defence Agency (EDA) as they relate to European defence-industrial co-operation. To undertake the analysis, the article departs from a strictly intergovernmental-supranational study of institutional relations by building upon the concept of ‘mandate overlap’. Additionally, the focus is on the…

  • Autonomy without Autarky: An EU ‘Roadmap’ for Security of Supply

    The disruption of the defence supply chain and the inability to replace or reproduce equipment: a nightmarish prospect for any military planner. To allay such fears, states have, whenever possible, sought to lower dependence on third-country suppliers by favouring national industry. Yet complete autarky is impossible to achieve in today’s…

  • The Three Effects of Dual-Use: Firms, Capabilities and Governance

    It is easy to overlook the fact that many of the products and technologies we use on a daily basis – and now take for granted – have their origins in the defence sector. GPS navigation units, the internet, touch screens, digital cameras, and even microwaves, were all, in one…

  • The European Investment Bank could help meet some of the challenges facing Europe’s struggling defence industry

    European countries face significant challenges in funding defence research and development programmes. Among the most important are declining defence budgets, fierce international competition, and the increasingly expensive nature of high-end technologies. Daniel Fiott argues that the European Investment Bank could play a much greater role in Europe’s defence sector and serve as…

  • The Juncker Commission and Europe’s Defence

    The decision by the incoming President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to merge the internal market and industry portfolios under one commissioner is an intelligent move. Of course, it is not the first time this has been attempted. Some may recall that Étienne Davignon was the Commissioner for Internal…

  • Defence R&D in Europe

    Introduction Research and Technology (R&T) and Research and Development (R&D) are critical ele- ments in the production of defence capabilities: without scientific and engineering inge- nuity, technological advances in the defence sphere cannot be made. R&T is the critical beginning phase in the development of defence capabilities. It is in…

  • No TTIP-ing Point for European Defence?

    Abstract The EU-US Summit on 26 March will mark eight months since the partners decided to formally launch negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The aim of the TTIP – if finalised – is to remove tariffs, align regulatory standards and open up government procurement. Born out…

  • An Industrious European Council on Defence?

    The December 2013 Council meeting set in motion a number of important “roadmaps” for defence-industrial policy in Europe. Now the member states, the European Defence Agency and European Commission need to be aware of the potential roadblocks ahead. Egmont Institute, 2014, No. 53 Read it here