Europe is faced with a degradation of its security environment, which affects all of the neighboring regional theaters and occurs along the entire conflict spectrum (Russian strategic resurgence, instability and civil wars around the Mediterranean Sea, changing patterns of jihadist terrorism, etc.), and with a growing uncertainty regarding the future commitment to European security of two critical allies, the United States and the United Kingdom. In this context, this program provides analytical support to the renewed European interest for defense, and to the attainment of the goal of strategic autonomy, as identified in the EU’s Global Strategy.
Its aims are:
Research fellow, Director of the Security Studies Center
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Former Research Fellow
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Associated Research Fellow
It is a classic exercise to imagine what today’s world would be like if all satellites were shut down. The exact consequences of such a scenario, which is not unlikely given the inherent vulnerability of space systems to natural, accidental and deliberate interferences, are however difficult...
For decades, Europe has been trying to chart a path away from the military competition and strategic rivalries that brought it to ruins so many times in history.
The instruments of cooperative security created during and since the Cold War to foster mutual confidence and reduce the risks of war, inadvertent escalation, and arms races, in and around Europe, have come under increasing strain.
The return of more conflictual relations between Russia and the West following Russia’s intervention in Eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea has led to a deterioration in the strategic environment for Northern European countries, particularly in the Baltic Sea Region and the Arctic.
The 1970s were a decade of anti-war movements. Willy Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his détente policy toward the Eastern Bloc – and West German defense spending peaked at 3.13 percent of GDP in 1975. Clearly, those days are long gone.
The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) called for tailoring assurance across America’s allies, including NATO, as part of an overall deterrence and assurance strategy.
In light of transatlantic tensions and a deteriorated security environment, European security affairs are at the crossroads.
In 2016, the European Union issued its Global Strategy, the Union’s latest foreign and security policy strategy document. The strategy “nurtures the ambition of strategic autonomy for the European Union”. American policymakers’ feelings about these aspirations are, to say the least,...
Transatlantic differences over the future of the Iran nuclear deal – or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015 – are damaging a nuclear accord that all parties, except the United States, see as delivering on its purpose. They also increase the risk of Washington and...
How can France and Germany contribute to reaching the goal of European strategic autonomy? This key question has been guiding the work with the present report. In the light of a more demanding security environment, but also a rare momentum for further European integration, Berlin and...
In the light of a more demanding security environment, but also a rare momentum for further European integration, Berlin and Paris are challenged to take their security and defence cooperation to the next level, bilaterally as well as in the EU. Progress in Franco-German security and...
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) used to carry the promise of a paneuropean security order. It is the only Euroatlantic security organization in which the “West” and Russia can cooperate on an equal footing.
This expert seminar gathered officials from national ministries of defense, national delegations to NATO, officials from NATO, the EDA, and the EEAS, as well as experts. The objective was to discuss the ambitions of the framework nations concept for framework nations as well as for partner...
Rencontre-débat animée par Marc Hecker, rédacteur en chef de la revue Politique étrangère.
...This expert seminar aims to address Franco-British defence cooperation in the broader context. It is organised by the Institut français des relations internationales and the Centre for European Reform.
This expert seminar focused on the planning processes within the European Defence Agency and NATO. It gathered officials from NATO, the EDA, the EEAS, national delegations to the EU and NATO, as well as experts.
Germany's unilateral decision to halt all shipments of military equipment to Saudi Arabia has stopped 10's of billions of dollars worth of orders of joint European arms exports, bringing the question of deep arms export cooperation among European partners into high relief.
Nicolas Sarkozy used to promote himself as a transatlanticist or anglophile French president. Emmanuel Macron seems to have taken this approach a step further. Macron appears to have taken upon France and himself the responsibility of not allowing Britain and more importantly, the United...
The offer of active military support to France in Syria or in the Sahel by several European member states is likely to overshadow the absence of meaningful commitment from others. On balance, the picture will not be too disheartening for supporters of the EU: its foreign and security policy...
L'Allemagne a annoncé qu'elle allait publier en 2016 un nouveau Livre blanc sur la défense. Cet exercice pourrait illustrer que les signaux positifs, mais dispersés, lancés par l'Allemagne depuis un peu plus d'un an auguraient d'un réel changement de posture stratégique, gage d'une reprise...
Many national perspectives published in this series share a similar analysis of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP): it is underperforming and needs to be adapted. However, the...
