More Union in European Defence

The Institute of International Relations Prague and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Prague organized a "Presentation and Discussion Regarding the Report of Task Force CEPS-FES: More Union in European Defence".

26. 10. 2015 (15:00)

Tento obsah není aktuální Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Prague

More Union in European Defence
A Presentation and Discussion Regarding the Report of Task Force CEPS-FES

The EU has lived through years of uncoordinated cuts in defence spending which have eroded Europe’s role as a security actor in what is now a multipolar world. And it is quite obvious 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.

The report is a record of the deliberations over several months between high-level experts in the field of European security and defence, coordinated by Javier Solana. The Task Force (TF) parts from the notion that the Treaty of Lisbon demands and permits a great deal more in terms of our common security and defence activities. The report aims to provide member states and the EU institutions with a narrative to strengthen defence cooperation. It 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’ (EDU).

You can download the CEPS-FES Task Force here.

Working language: ENG/CZE/DE, simultaneous translation will be provided

15:00 – 15:30 Registration
15:30 – 15:40 Welcome Remarks

  • Anne Seyfferth, Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Prague
  • Benjamin Tallis, Co-ordinator of the Centre for European Security of the IIR Prague

15:40 – 16:30 Presentation of the Report of Task Force CEPS-FES

  • Hans-Peter Bartels, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, German Bundestag / Member of the Task Force group
  • Steven Blockmans, Head of EU Foreign Policy, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels

16:30 – 17:30 Comments by Czech Experts and a Subsequent Discussion

  • Tomáš Szunyog, Director of the Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
  • Ondřej Ditrych, Assistant Professor, the Institute of Political Studies, Charles University in Prague

Moderated by: Uwe Optenhögel, Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, EU Office; Member of the Task Force group.

You can download the programme including other connected events organized by the Institute of International Relations Prague and the European Values Think-tank here.


The event in press

Photos



Spolupráce / Záštita

The Mirror Hall, the Czernin Palace of the MFA, Loretánské nám. 5, Praha 1