Democratic Control of Armed Forces – From National to European Oversight
The Brussels Office of the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation for Freedom together with the European Organisation of Military Associations (EUROMIL) organized the second event of the tripartite series „Overcoming Obstacles on the Way to European Army“ on 31 October 2017. This public debate pursued the question, if and how democratic control mechanisms over …
The Advantages of Integration – A PDFORRA Perspective
Continued engagement by the Irish Defence Forces with our European partners received a boost following the recent announcement by the Irish Government that it was nominating Vice Admiral Mark Mellett for election to the Chair of the European Military Committee. The nomination of Vice Admiral Mellett came as no real …
PESCO? Soon a Reality?
Permanent Structured Cooperation, better known under its acronym PESCO, is almost something as EUROMILLIONS winners: everybody knows that they exist, but nobody knows where and who they are! PESCO is a tool provided by the Lisbon Treaty to change the current patchwork of bilateral and multilateral military cooperation in Europe …
Time For Real Action
One cannot deny that it is becoming quite difficult to write something on the current situation that is valid for more than a few days or even hours. Especially the security and defence environment is changing rapidly. New scenarios for the future are discussed at an increased pace. However, two …
Internal Security and Defence Debated in Portugal
In the context of this years’ 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, and just after Europe Day, the Portuguese Council of the European Movement organised a debate entitled “The EU in the field of internal security and defense” on 11 May 2017. The event was organised in collaboration with …
Constitutional, Legal And Institutional Implications of CSDP
On 16 March 2017, the European Parliament adopted a resolution entitled “Constitutional, legal and institutional implications of a Common Security and Defence Policy: possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty”. The report, which was drafted by the Constitutional and Foreign Affairs Committee, “notes that the reform and innovation that the Lisbon …
2016, a remarkable year!
At the end of each year one should take the time to reflect on the past twelve months but also to look ahead at what is on the agenda for the next year. Let’s look at 2016 in a nutshell! The civil war in Syria turned into a proxy war …
European Defence Action Plan
On 30 November 2016, the European Commission proposed the “European Defence Action Plan”. The document contains a plan to increase defence spending and defence cooperation amongst European member states and proposes the creation of a European Defence Fund. The fund is to be managed by a coordination board composed of …
Comparative Study on Social Dialogue in the EU
The European Commission recently published a comparative study entitled “The role of social partners in the design and implementation of policies and reforms”. The study was conducted by the European Employment Policy Observatory (EEPO), a European network, which produces regular and independent research on a range of topics relating to …
European Parliament Supports Military Personnel in a Resolution on the European Defence Union
On 22 November 2016, Members of the European Parliament voted on a motion for a European Parliament Resolution on the European Defence Union, tabled by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Confronted to a new financial and security context, European armed forces are required to collaborate closer and military personnel to …