by Jacques Favin Lévêque, General ret., Versailles Despite nearly three decades of a slow and timid rise in power, the reality of European defence is modest and the result does not live up to the ambition of a major geopolitical player, which the European Union (EU) claims to be, but always with its inescapable dependence…
by Luke Hally, founding Director of Terra Nova Consultancy, Brussels The European Peace Facility (EPF) plays a significant role in Africa by supporting continental security initiatives. As an instrument of the European Union (EU), the EPF finances armament and operational support for security actions, including peacekeeping operations. It aims to enhance the EU’s ability to…
Interview with Ambassador Dr John Paul Grech, Deputy Secretary-General, Social & Civil Affairs, Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Barcelona Hartmut Bühl: Ambassador, in June of this year, the high-level conference “Climate Change, Civil Protection and Human Security – towards efficient Euro-Mediterranean cooperation” took place in Rome. The event was the occasion for the launch of…
by Dr Moritz Brake, independent expert and consultant on maritime security and strategy, Cologne When on 26 September 2022 the two “North Stream” pipelines exploded, there was a striking lack of awareness of the general situation at sea or under water in the vicinity of the incident. European coastal countries on the North and Baltic…
by Debalina Ghoshal, Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Council on International Policy (Canada), and India correspondent for this magazine, Kolkata One of the key objectives of maritime powers in the Indo-Pacific region is to protect and secure their sea lines of communication (SLOCs). These include major maritime routes between ports used for trade, logistic support…
by Professor Hideshi Tokuchi, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), and Asia correspondent for this magazine, Tokyo The Government of Japan released its new National Security Strategy in December 2022. The document states that it is a dramatic transformation in implementation of Japan’s national security policy after the end of the…
by Michael Singh, Managing Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington There is transatlantic agreement that the “China challenge” is the most serious we face; but do we have a strategy to confront it? Whether in business or in geopolitics, strategy is a three-step process – first, setting a focused objective; second, mapping…
by Sebastian Unger, Federal Government Commissioner for the Ocean, Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Germany The world’s seas ensure the very survival of humankind. They produce oxygen and sequester carbon. They regulate the climate, supply us with food and provide habitats for countless numbers of species. And much of…
by Admiral (ret) Alain Coldefy, President, Societé des Membres de la Légion d’Honneur (SMLH), Paris War made a tragic return to continental Europe when Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine in early 2022 in an attempt to terrorise the entire country. It is a land war, partly air-land but relatively little naval, even if the French daily…
by Charlina Vitcheva, Director-General, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), European Commission, Brussels The new EU Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS)1 comes at a time of increasing geopolitical strife and rapid technological developments, answering a broad range of security challenges in the global maritime domain. The EU Member States combined have the largest Exclusive Economic…