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26 Feb 2015

More Union in European Defence

Steven Blockmans / Giovanni Faleg

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This Task Force on Security and Defence was chaired by Javier Solana, former EU High Representative for CFSP, Secretary General of NATO and Foreign Minister of Spain. 

Years of uncoordinated cuts in defence spending have eroded the EU’s role as a security actor in what is now a multipolar world. This CEPS Task Force report aims to provide member states and the EU institutions with the narrative to strengthen defence cooperation in the EU, in the face of numerous emergencies in the EU’s strategic neighbourhood and ever-present security threats. The report is a record of the deliberations over several months between high-level experts in the field of European security and defence, who conclude that the Treaty of Lisbon demands and permits a great deal more in terms of our common security and defence activities. And that member states could achieve much more value for money than the €190 billion that they spend to keep up 28 national armies, comprising roughly 1.5 million service personnel.

This report suggests policy actions to further the EU’s strategic, institutional, capabilities, and resources cooperation in the field of defence. Ultimately, in the view of the Task Force experts, further integration should amount to a European Defence Union.

The rapporteurs were Steven Blockmans, Head of EU Foreign Policy at CEPS and Giovanni Faleg, Associate Researcher in EU Foreign Policy at CEPS.

The work of the Task Force on European Security and Defence was conducted in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.