Tag: Defense Cooperation

PESCO: Two Years Later

Image courtesy of European Parliament/Flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

This article was originally published by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) on 23 January 2020.

Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), launched by the EU in December 2017, has grown quickly. Yet, its role in developing European defence capacity may turn out to be marginal if a compromise is not found on the issue of the participation of non-EU states in PESCO projects and on the size of the European Defence Fund (EDF). PESCO’s importance may be diminished by advances by big, European defence initiatives led outside the EU’s legal framework.

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Tacit Alliance: Russia and China Take Military Partnership to New Level

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This article was originally published by the Carnegie Moscow Center on 22 October 2019.

By cooperating with China in the military sphere, Russia loses virtually nothing in terms of security, while making life difficult for the United States, strengthening its relationship with a key partner, and gaining an economic advantage.
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Terrorism

What Does “European Defense” Look Like? The Answer Might Be in the Sahel

Image courtesy of Fred Marie/Flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

This article was originally published by War on the Rocks on 19 March 2019.

A few weeks ago, the Danish government announced it would submit to its parliament a request for the deployment of two medium lift helicopters AW101 and about 70 military personnel to the Sahel region as part of the French-led counter-terrorism operation “Barkhane.” Once the deployment is approved by lawmakers, as appears likely, Danish assets would join the operation in late 2019.

This announcement has received little attention, but it is significant — both for the fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel region and for the future of European defense cooperation. It provides an insight into a new approach to the project of building European defense, one that does not necessarily rely on the structures or complex institutional settings of the European Union, but instead focuses on pragmatic and operational cooperation between states.

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CSS Blog

Go East: Stages of NATO’s Enlargement, 1952-2016

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This graphic tracks the stages of NATO’s eastern enlargement since 1952. To find out more about Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture, see CSS’ Christian Nünlist’s chapter in Strategic Trends 2017 here. For more CSS charts, maps and graphics on economics, click here.

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CSS Blog

Increases in Defense Budgets Between 2016 and 2017

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This graphic shows the changes in defense budgets of various European countries from 2016 to 2017. For more on the challenges facing European defense and armament planners, see Michael Haas and Annabelle Vuille’s recent addition to the CSS Analyses in Security Policy series here. For more CSS charts, maps and graphics on defense policy, click here.