by Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien, Managing Director of Bundesverband Deutscher Sicherheits- und Verteidigungsindustrie (BDSV), and Lucas Hirsch, Sustainability Analyst at BDSV, Berlin It was in Paris in 2015 when 196…
by Manuel de la Cámara Hermoso, EuroDefense-Spain, Madrid In 1995, the European Union (EU) launched the so-called “Barcelona process”, a comprehensive plan whose objective was to extend the area of…
Interview with Dr Jan Joel Andersson, Senior Analyst, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris The European: Mr Andersson, as a Senior Analyst at the European Union Institute for…
A report by Hartmut Bühl, Paris Eager to know how the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) functions, I was very glad to be invited by Antoine Lemasson, who…
by Sabine Henzler, Director for Strategy and Impact, Directorate-General Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Brussels No one can predict when disaster will strike, but science can help us prepare for…
Interview with Babatunde Anthony Ojei, Country Director for Nigeria, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Abuja The European: Mr Ojei, you have been the Country Director for Nigeria of the non-governmental organisation…
Interview with Ambassador Dr John Paul Grech, Deputy Secretary General, Social & Civil Affairs, Union for the Mediterranean, Barcelona Hartmut Bühl: Ambassador Grech, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is…
by Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director General, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, now in its second year, has had devastating effects on the Ukrainian people, with…
by Tristan Simonart, Team Leader, International Cooperation, DG ECHO, European Commission, Brussels Due to their immediate geographic proximity, the European Union (EU) and its eastern and southern neighbouring regions and…
Interview with Julia Stewart-David, Acting Director, Disaster Preparedness and Prevention/Civil Protection Horizontal Issues (ECHO B.1), and Hans Das, Director for Emergency Management and rescEU (ECHO A), DG ECHO, European Commission,…
by Harald Kujat, former Chief Military Committee NATO, Berlin On 4 April 2023, 74 years after the founding of the North Atlantic Alliance, Finland was admitted as its 31st member.…
by Dr Hazem Rihawi, Senior Programs Manager, American Relief Coalition for Syria (ARCS) / Co-Chair of InterAction’s Syria Working Group, Washington DC On February 6th, 2023, at 4:17 am, a…
by Natalia Pouzyreff, Member of Parliament (Yvelines/6th district), Member of the Defence Committee, Assemblée Nationale, Paris Since 24 February 2022, the war on Europe’s doorstep has led to a surge…
by Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, European Commission, Brussels You are at home when you hear the wildfire warning over the radio. You need to leave immediately. Your…
Was the Ukrainian war correspondent, Yurii Butusov, right when he said, in a recent interview in the Neue Züricher Zeitung, that the Third World War has already begun with the…
(Ed/hb, Paris) This week, the European Union CBRN Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence (EU CBRN CoE) Initiative holds its 9th International meeting of the National Focal Points in Brussels. Launched…
Conference report by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris The 21st Berlin Security Conference (BSC), which took place from 30-31 November 2022 had a very special character. Never before has a BSC…
Interview with Stefano Cont, Director Capacity, Armament & Planning (CAP), European Defence Agency, Brussels The European: Director, when you took over your position in April 2022 you declared: “At a…
Interview with Michael Gahler MEP, European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg The European: Mr Gahler, you have been dealing with security and defence issues in the European Parliament since 2004 and have held…
by Prof Dr Angelika Niebler MEP, EuropeanParliament, Brussels/Strasbourg Do you remember the attacks in September 2022 on the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connect Germany and Russia? The four explosions…
by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris On 7 February, the European External Action Service (EEAS) released its first report on foreign information manipulation and interferences (FIMI),…
by Dr Roberto Viola, Director General, DG CNECT, European Commission, Brussels As the digital and the physical worlds are converging more and more, it is of utmost importance to enhance…
by Professor Dr Thomas Jäger, Chair of International Relations and Foreign Policy, Cologne University, Cologne The international order is currently undergoing a geopolitical realignment. While the Unites States (US) and…
by Nick Watts, Vice-President EuroDefense UK, London With the advent of a globalised and digitised world, the cyber threat has become all-pervasive. Unlike any other vector of warfare or terrorism,…
by Stefanie Buzmaniuk, Senior Research Fellow, Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris For some months now, the message has been clear in France: the Franco-German couple needs a “couple’s therapy”. The need…
by Gerhard Arnold, Publisher and Middle East correspondent to this magazine, Würzburg Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on 24 February 2022, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has…
Has the war in Ukraine reached a turning point with the announcement that the west will deliver “Leopard2” main battle tanks to Ukraine, after such a long time of hesitation…
Interview with François Delattre, Ambassador of France to Germany, Berlin and Dr Hans Dieter Lucas, Ambassador of Germany to France, Paris The European: Excellencies, I am honoured that both of…
Europe and the west have lost their balance. The war in Europe was the inducement to recognise that the world was experiencing a break with the past and that all…
by Dr Antonella Cavallo, rescEU CBRN Lead, DG ECHO, European Commission, Brussels On 19th October in Kyiv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded a national order of merit to the…
by Johann Fischer, Head of Unit Land & Logistic, and Friedrich Aflenzer, Project Officer for CBRN Defence, European Defence Agency, Brussels The early detection and reconnaissance of chemical, nuclear and…
by Talgat Toleubayev, UNICRI’s Regional Coordinator of the CBRN Risk Mitigation and Security Governance Programme The development of a series of CBRN Guides is funded by the European Union (EU)…
by Colonel Stephan Saalow, Commander CBRN Defence Command and Chairman FNC Cluster CBRN Protection, Bundeswehr CBRN Defence Command, Bruchsal The use of fourth generation chemical agents in Salisbury (UK), continued nuclear sabre-rattling from…
Hartmut Bühl asked Hasso von Blücher (right) about innovative CBRN protection and the success of his company The conversation with the owner of Blücher GMBH took place in early 2019…
Interview with Bakhtiyor Gulyamov, Head of Regional Secretariat for Central Asia, EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative, Tashkent The European: Mr Gulyamov, you have been the Head of Secretariat of…
by Sebastian Meyer-Plath, Sales Director, BLÜCHER, Erkrath As Winston Churchill once very rightly observed, “national security is the primary duty of any government and certainly takes precedence over economic stability”.…
by Dr Philippe Quevauviller, Policy and Research Programming Officer, DG Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, Brussels* To set the scene, it is important to stress that CBRN research cannot…
Interview with Natalie Pauwels, Head of Unit, European Commission Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, Brussels, and Marian de Bruijn, Programme Coordinator, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI),…
Report on the 8th National Focal Points meeting of the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative by Nannette Cazaubon, Paris After a forced three-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic,…
by Dr Andreas Arnold, Director of Product Management, Blücher GmbH, Erkrath The comparison of current threats with common scenarios of the past, and the analysis of mission concepts, incidents and…
The following definitions are excerpt from a study on “EU preparedness and responses to Chemical, Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats”. The study, requested by the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on…
European political leaders have understood that is vital for the continent to request the best and the utmost from Member States in a close civil-military cooperation aiming to counter CBRN…
The independent magazine for European security and defence policy ‘The European Security & Defence Union’ dedicates its latest edition to the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence initiative. The quarterly publication…
by Johann Fischer, Head of Unit Land & Logistic, and Friedrich Aflenzer, Project Officer for CBRN Defence, European Defence Agency, Brussels The early detection and reconnaissance of chemical, nuclear and…
by Silvio Stockmann, Member of the Advisory Board of DIHAG Holding GmbH, andTobias Romanowsky, Sales Engineer SHB Stahl und Hartgusswerk, Bösdorf GmbH, Leipzig With Covid-19 and the blockage of the…
Report by Hartmut Bühl on his information visit to General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) at the Eurosatory exhibition near Paris in June 2022 Military mobility was one of the…
Interview with Lutz Kampmann, Managing Director of Northrop Grumman LITEF Holding GmbH, Freiburg The European: Mr Kampmann, you have been the Managing Director of LITEF since 2019 after holding several…
by Colonel Stephan Saalow, Commander CBRN Defence Command and Chairman FNC Cluster CBRN Protection, Bundeswehr CBRN Defence Command, Bruchsal The use of fourth generation chemical agents in Salisbury (UK), continued nuclear sabre-rattling from…
Interview with Mohamed Salami, Head ofRegional Office, African Atlantic Facade (AAF), EU CBRN Centres of Excellence, Rabat The European: Mr Salami, you have been the Head of the Regional Office…
by Günter Povoden, key expert with the On-Site Assistance (OSA) for the Middle East region of the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative, Vienna The distinguished reader knows that “Arz”…
Interview with Bakhtiyor Gulyamov, Head of Regional Secretariat for Central Asia, EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative, Tashkent The European: Mr Gulyamov, you have been the Head of Secretariat of…
by Dr Antonella Cavallo, rescEU CBRN Lead, DG ECHO, European Commission, Brussels On 19th October in Kyiv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded a national order of merit to the…
Report on the 8th National Focal Points meeting of the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative by Nannette Cazaubon, Paris After a forced three-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic,…
Interview with Natalie Pauwels, Head of Unit, European Commission Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, Brussels, and Marian de Bruijn, Programme Coordinator, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI),…
by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris Europe is fragile. The sum of so many democracies cannot be a smooth river. They are all plagued by regressive,…
by Dr Philippe Quevauviller, Policy and Research Programming Officer, DG Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, Brussels* To set the scene, it is important to stress that CBRN research cannot…
by Professor Hideshi Tokuchi, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Tokyo, and East Asia correspondent of this magazine The government of Japan has been engaged in…
by Michael Singh, Managing Director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington For years, American strategists have warned that the world was changing, but their…
by Harald Kujat, General (ret), former German Chief of Defence and former Chairman Military Committee NATO, Lögow The 21st century is marked by the rise of the Peoples’ Republic of China…
How can Putin’s policy of enslaving his people, consistently enforced for 21 years, fail when it comes to Ukraine? The Russian dictator is losing more and more ground with his…
by Patrice Mompeyssin, Brigadier General (ret), Secretary General of the EURODEFENSE network, ParisThe 2022 annual meeting of the EURODEFENSE network, with representatives from 15 countries, took place in Paris from…
by Jörg Maffert, Marketing and Technical Support Manager, Dillinger Hüttenwerke AG, Dillingen The increasingly unstable geopolitical security situation, with war in Europe and terrorist attacks especially in the Sahel in…
by Debalina Ghoshal, Non Resident Fellow, Council on International Policy;Indian Correspondent of this magazine,Kolkata Qualitative improvements in China’s nuclear forces are a result of its nuclear doctrine of ‘no first…
by Talgat Toleubayev, UNICRI’s RegionalCoordinator of the CBRN Risk Mitigation and Security Governance Programme The development of a series of CBRN Guides is funded by the European Union (EU) Chemical,…
Interview with Ilmar Tamm, Brigadier General, Commandant of the Baltic Defence College, Tartu The European: General, you are the current Commandant of the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia. Your…
Interview with Lieutenant GeneralPeter Devogelaere, Commander EUROCORPS, Strasbourg The European: General, you have been the Commanding General of EUROCORPS for almost a year now. During that time, you have been…
by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, ParisIn early June 2022, the French “Forum de Défense et de Stratégie” (FDS) in cooperation with the French Embassy in Berlin and with the support of…
by Michael Gahler MEP, European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg 24th February this year marks a turning point in European as well as global security. With its illegal and unprovoked attack against Ukraine,…
by Dr Antonella Cavallo, rescEU CBRN Lead,DG ECHO, European Commission, Brussels In a heartfelt address at the European Civil Protection Forum on 28th June, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister…
Interview with Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman, European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin The European: Gerald Knaus, we meet at a historic moment for the European project, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.…
by Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President, European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg For the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the countries to our east are important partners and friends.…
by Professor Ioan Mircea Pașcu, former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Bukarest “Enlargement” and the “Schengen regime” were conceived as somehow complementary: once fulfilling the “acquis”, a new member was…
by David McAllister MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Brussels/Strasbourg The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the grave and wholesale violations of human…
A conference reportby Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris Under the patronage of the French EU Presidency, a two-day conference was held at the Ecole Militaire in Paris on 9th and 10th…
by Gesine Weber, Research Analyst, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Paris “When your own house is on fire, you don’t send your entire fire brigade to fight a…
by Cyrille Schott, honorary Prefect of region, member of the bureau of EuroDéfense-France, Strasbourg The issue of European sovereignty has been highlighted by Russian aggression in Ukraine. Beyond the necessary…
Commentary by Hartmut Bühl The NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June 2022 was the most decisive summit of this century. The Alliance adopted a new Strategic Concept…
by Dr Delphine Deschaux-Dutard,Associate Professor, University Grenoble Alpes, CESICE, Grenoble, and Bastien Nivet, Senior Lecturer, EMLV, Paris La Défense The military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has forced…
by Michael Rühle, Head Climate and Energy Security Section, Emerging Security Challenges Division, NATO, Brussels Climate change has become humanity’s greatest challenge. The effects of global warming – melting polar…
by Jiří Šedivý, Chief Executive, and Jean-François Ripoche, Director of Research, Technology and Innovation of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Brussels After the appalling and totally unjustifiable Russian aggression against…
After intense negotiations, the European Union (EU) has finally adopted its so-called Strategic Compass, a forty-page paper published on 21st March 2022. Comprising a common vision for the Union’s role…
The MMF Programme is a referencefor future defence armament cooperation photo: © MMU by Joachim Weidmann, OCCAR-EA, MMF Programme Manager and Coordinator; Angel Saiz-Padilla, NSPA, MMF Principal Coordinator Officer, and…
by Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien,Managing Director of the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries e.V. (BDSV), Berlin In the current European debate, our security requirements and need to defend…
by Ralph Thiele, President of EuroDefense Germany and Chairman of the Political-Military Society, Berlin The world is in the midst of a tectonic shift. Global competition for security architectures, trade and…
by Ricardo Dias da Costa, Professor of Strategy and Military Operations at the PortugueseMilitary University Institute (IUM), Lisbon The use of expressions such as the “sovereignty” or “strategic autonomy” of…
by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris V ladimir Putin has achieved the impossible: in a few days, his war against Ukraine has made the European Union (EU)politically move further than it…
by Jean Dufourcq, Counter Admiral (ret), co-founder of Vigie, synthèse stratégique,Paris The Russian aggression in Ukraine, a human tragedy of a bygone era, harks back to the European wars of…
by Professor Hideshi Tokuchi, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) and Indo-Pacific correspondent of this magazine, Tokyo R ussia’s invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation…
by Dr Klaus Wittmann, Brigadier General (ret), Lecturer in contemporary history at Potsdam University, Berlin C ertainly, the invasion on 24th February 2022, long prepared by the ever tighter military…
by Jean-Paul Paloméros, General (ret), former Supreme Commander Transformation NATO (Norfolk), Paris Not so long ago, discussing European strategic autonomy was considered by many as a non-starter. First and foremost…
by Fred Stoof, owner of Stoof International GmbH, Borkheide/Berlin E uropean Union operations and missions are deployed within the framework of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). In…
by Gerhard Arnold, Theologian and Publisher, Middle East correspondent of this magazine, Würzburg A mong experts, it is disputed whether the Iranian leadership is aiming to possess nuclear weapons at…
by Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Research, Innovation, Culture, Education and Youth,European Commission, Brussels T he provoked war in Ukraine is the most recent signal of the need to defend our…
by Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin The Russian invasion of Ukraine represents a turning point in European history. The leader of a nuclear power…
On 8th April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen together with the EU High Representative Josep Borrell travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a joint…
by Sebastian Meyer-Plath, Sales Director, BLÜCHER GmbH, Erkrath R esilience is a term that has been increasingly used in the recent past to describe the capability of a community, organisation,…
Interview with Alain Coldefy, Admiral (ret),former Major General of the French Armed Forces, Paris The European: Admiral, in your book “Amiral – Le sel et les étoiles” you have succeeded…
by Frédéric Mauro, lawyer at the Brussels’ bar and associate researcher at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), Brussels/Paris A draft of the “strategic compass”, the first White…
Interview with Sorin Ducaru, Director of theEuropean Union Satellite Centre (SatCen), Torrejón The European: Mr Ducaru, allow us to express our warmest congratulations on the 30th anniversary of your agency!…
by Gesine Weber, Program Coordinator,German Marshall Fund of the United States, Paris Since 2016, European defence cooperation has made great leaps forward: the EU has launched the European Defence Fund…
On 7th October 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution entitled “The Arctic: opportunities, concerns and security challenges”. [The Parliament] 1. Reaffirms that the Arctic is of strategic and political…
by Dr Sabine Fischer, Senior Research Fellow, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik/German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin After almost eight years of conflict since Russia’s annexation of Crimea…
by Prof Ioan Mircea Pașcu, former Defence Minister of Romania and former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Bucarest Any attempt to better understand the current relations between China and Russia…
by Debalina Ghoshal, non-resident fellow at the Council on International Policy and Indian correspondent to this magazine, Kolkata Nuclear Weapon States (NWSs) – China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and…
by Dr Eunsook Chung, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Department of Security Strategy Studies, The Sejong Institute, South Korea According to the US Department of Defense’s annual China…
by Hideshi Tokuchi, Professor, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Tokyo Today, the Taiwan Strait is a frontline of the systemic rivalry between the US and…
by Ambassador Barry Desker, Distinguished Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore The coming decade will see increasing competition between the United…
Interview with Moritz Brake, Kapitänleutnant and Lecturer for Maritime Security and Strategy, University of Bonn The European: Mr Brake, the European Union (EU) is currently facing adversity, geopolitical competition and…
by Prof Thomas Jäger, Professor and political scientist, University of Cologne It continues to be an accurate definition of US central geostrategic interest that no power should become so dominant…
by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris The Joint Communication on ”A stronger EU engagement for a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous Arctic” (https://bit.ly/3npDlii ) presented by the EU High Representative and the…
by William Cockburn, Interim ExecutiveDirector, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao The Covid-19 pandemic continues to be one of the biggest challenges that our societies and economies…
by Jacques Favin Lévêque, Général (ret),Versailles, and Claude Roche, Vice-President of the Académie de l’Air et de l’Espace, Paris The recent draft security treaty presented by Russia proposes bilateral guarantees…
There is no alternative to the Franco-German tandem by Cyrille Schott, former director of the National Institute for Advanced Security and Justice Studies (INHESJ), member of EuroDéfense France, Strasbourg, and…
Questioning initiatives in European defence In a telephone conference, we asked Dipl-Ing, Major General (ret), Reinhard Wolski, Moderator of The Berlin Security Conference, to take a stand on some of…
Contribution in missile technology to the EU’s strategic compass Interview with Thomas Gottschild, Managing Director of MBDA Deutschland GmbH and Executive Group Director Strategy MBDA, Schrobenhausen The European: Mr Gottschild, MBDA…
The European Union is continuing efforts to develop own defence capabilities in cooperation, adapting structures and creating financial instruments for security and defence. Although European armaments cooperation is still in its infancy,…
by Jean-Louis Gergorin and Léo Isaac-Dognin, co-authors of “Cyber, la guerre permanente” (Editions du Cerf, 2018), Paris A year ago, we voiced our concerns regarding the exponential rise of ransomware attacks,…
A European Security Council provides the basis for re-engagement by Robert Walter, President of EuroDéfense-United-Kingdom, London The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the apparent continuation, under President Biden, of “America First”,…
The world is too complex for every country to adhere to the same political recipes by Vladimir A. Chizhov, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Brussels Though relations between…
by Dr Ronja Kempin, Senior Fellow at EU/Europe Research Group, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin For a long time, the German federal government, led by Chancellor…
The EU has to shoulder more responsibility for security and order in its near abroad by Christian Schmidt, former German Federal Minister, President of the German Atlantic Association and High…
The failure of the NATO concept in Afghanistan Interview with General (ret) Harald Kujat, former German Chief of Defence and Chairman NATO Military Committee, Berlin The European: General Kujat, in politics,…
by Camille Grand, Assistant Secretary General, Defence Investment, NATO, Brussels We face a challenging security environment marked by systemic competition from assertive powers, instability near Europe’s borders, terrorism, cyber-attacks, disinformation,…
Interview with Professor Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering, former President of the European Parliament, Berlin The European: Professor Pöttering, what was your first thought when you heard US President Joe Biden, on the…
In Brussels, the old Greek saying that progress is only stimulated by crises carries weight. The fact that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is taking her leave of the circle…
by Kaan Savul, Head of International Cooperation and Global Affairs, Ecolog Deutschland, Düsseldorf To the many entrenched global inequalities – wealth distribution, education attainment, life expectancy and human rights –…
by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris European judges are being criticised by European populists for undermining the “legal sovereignty” of EU member states. The law has…
by Israel Rafalovich, Journalist, BrusselsDefence strategists and planners are confronted to a rapidly approaching future with a new war fighting regime where unmanned and autonomous systems play central roles. For…
by Patrick Bellouard, former Président EuroDéfense France, Paris, and Cyrille Schott, Préfet (h) de Région, member of EuroDéfense France, Strasbourg The Franco-German engine is essential for Europe, including in armament…
by Dr Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann MdB, member of the Bundestag and the federal board of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Berlin The model of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, as…
by Maria Camello, Analyst, and Federico Santopinto, Senior analyst at GRIP*, Brussels In 1951, the coal and steel industries were still the lifeblood of the war. The idea of entrusting…
by Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, Director General European Union Military Staff /Director Military Planning and Conduct Capability, Brussels The security situation faced by Europeans today can be increasingly characterised by…
by Sorin Ducaru, Director of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen), Madrid With nearly 30 years since its foundation, the EU Satellite Centre (SatCen) has established itself as the prime…
by Panagiotis Nikas, Founding Director of ZEUXIS, Athens On 28th July, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Refugee Convention (the Convention). Its core concept is the protection of…
by François Thomas, President of SOS MEDITERRANEE France, Marseille has been the president of SOS MEDITERRANEE France since June 2019. He holds a master’s degree in international transport and is…
by Andrea Quaden, humanitarian aid worker, Syria I have been working to the best of my abilities with and for the displaced children, women and men of this world for more…
by Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Warsaw Over the last five years Frontex has become one of the most dynamic EU agencies. The…
by Mariam Traore Chazalnoel, Senior Policy Officer, and Dina Ionesco, Head of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division, International Organization for Migration (IOM)1, Geneva The impacts of climate change…
by Stefanie Buzmaniuk, Head of Publications, and Ramona Bloj, Head of Studies, Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris In terms of migration policy, the EU has a shared competence. Its intervention depends…
Interview with Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Luxembourg, and Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin While the…
Interview with Dr Dirk Wössner, CEO, CompuGroup Medical, Koblenz The European: Dr Wössner, you became the Chief Executive Officer of CompuGroup Medical (CGM) in 2021, at a time when the…
On 11th September (9/11) all American soldiers will have left Afghanistan. Joe Biden, the new US President, has followed the policy set out by his predecessor and his countrymen will…
by Christopher Eid, PhD student on European policy, France The search for closer relations between the European Union and the countries of the Mediterranean basin has taken the form of…
Interview with Michael Singh, Managing Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, D.C. The European: Mr Sing, during the last year we saw pictures of America, which shocked…
by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Munich In Europe, the sigh of relief was noticeable when President Biden stressed the renewed US commitment to NATO at…
Responsibility must remain in human hands by Dr Michael Stehr, Advocate, Board Member of EuroDefense, Bonn, Germany A cultural bias seems to dominate debates on “autonomous systems” with perceptions and expectations…
“The international composition of Eurocorps means that we have to consider each individual nation’s approach and then adopt the best one.” Interview with Lieutenant General Laurent Kolodziej, Commanding General Eurocorps,…
by Michael Rühle, Head of the Hybrid Challenges and Energy Security Section, NATO’s Emerging Security Challenges Division, Brussels For over seven decades, deterrence has been a key concept of western…
Support multilateral efforts to maintain and build peace globally by Dr Kinga Brudzinska, Policy Director, Centre for Global Europe, GLOBSEC Policy Institute, and Lucia Rybnikárová, MA, Project Coordinator, GLOBSEC Policy…
Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris One year after its irruption into our lives, the Covid-19 pandemic remains at the top of the political agenda and media focus, to the extent that…
The Agency is the European hub for collaborative capability development “We need to stay on course and continue the implementation of the new EU defence tools that have been created…
(ed/hb, Paris) On 22nd February 2021, the European Commission adopted the Communication on an Action plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. “With the European Defence Fund we…
by Sinéad O’Sullivan, Research Fellow, Center for Climate and Security, Washington, D.C. The last year has created ample evidence showing that the impacts of climate change and climate-related threats are…
by Dr Marcus DuBois King, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Governments, industry, and civil society are facing urgent political and economic risks to water security.…
(ed/Céline Merz, Linz am Rhein) On 11th December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, a growth strategy with the objective of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent…
by Olzod Boum-Yalagch, Chairman of the Mongolian Green Party, Ulaan-Baatar In these days of “pandemic” disasters, mankind is looking for solutions to address social, economic and environmental challenges. We believe…
by Oliver Bruzek, Policy officer of CompuGroup Medical (CGM), Berlin The question of whether the comprehensive digitalisation of our society can contribute to sustainable economic activity and active climate protection,…
Why boosting climate policy must be at the heart of our coronavirus pandemic recovery by Dr Anton Hofreiter MdB, Co-chair of the parliamentary group Alliance 90 / The Greens in…
Europe must invest in high value space technology by Dr Johannes Bühl, postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for TroposphericResearch (TROPOS), Leipzig Dr Johannes Bühl is a postdoctoral researcher at…
We need to achieve a green but just and fair transition by Marc Lemaître, Director-General, DG for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission, Brussels Climate change and environmental degradation are…
by Robert Walter, former MP and President of the European Security and Defence Association, London On 16th March, the United Kingdom published its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and…
by Gerhard Arnold, Theologian and Publisher, Würzburg The Arab “axis of resistance” against Israel has broken, even if two long-standing hostile neighbours, Lebanon and Syria, will not hear of normalisation…
by Natalia Pouzyreff and Michèle Tabarot, members of the French National Assembly, Paris In October 2020, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defence Committee of the French National Assembly entrusted…
by Hilde Hardeman, Director of the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), Brussels The EU launched a comprehensive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, focussing both on the needs…
It is high time for the EU to make strategic choices by David McAllister MEP, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg As Europe begins its path…
by Patrick Bellouard, President of EuroDéfense-France, Paris Since the beginning of 2020, Covid-19 and its economic and social impacts have revealed the vulnerability and dependencies of Europe in the health…
by General Eberhard Zorn, Chief of Defence, Berlin As Europeans, we have demonstrated solidarity with our partners and allies in the past months and supported each other in the fight…
Interview with François Bausch, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Luxembourg The European: Minister, Luxembourg is rightly recognised for the role it plays in the international community and its…
by Frédéric Mauro, Associate Research Fellow at IRIS, Lawyer at the bar of Brussels The need for a common defence of the European Union has been acknowledged since the early…
by Michael Gahler MEP, Brussels/Strasbourg The Covid-19 pandemic is the most severe global crisis we are facing since World War 2. Fighting it is undoubtedly our current top priority. At…
by Arie Egozi, journalist, Tel Aviv A serious look at the Normalisation Agreements, also referred to as the “Abraham accords” signed on 15th September at the White House in Washington…
by Professor Hideshi Tokuchi, Senior Fellow, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo In 1954, when the then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida visited west Germany, he emphasised to the Germans…
The impact of the US election on Europe by General (ret.) Harald Kujat, formerm Chairman NATO Military Committee, Berlin No sooner is the election over than expectations are mounting on…
It is the crisis that ultimately moves the lines by Cyrille Schott, Préfet (h.) de région, Member of the Board of EuroDéfense France, Paris Security occupied the minds of Europe’s…
Ransomware is becoming a systemic threat to Europe’s economy by Jean-Louis Gergorin, former Executive VP for Strategy of EADS, and Léo Isaac-Dognin, Director for Digital Trust, Capgemini Invent, Paris Cybercrime…
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by Hartmut Bühl, Publisher, Paris Trade deals do not only have an economic impact. They also have a geopolitical aspect, cultural outcomes and often…
Presidential elections in the United States by Michael Singh, Managing Director, and Charles Thépaut, Visiting Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, D.C. The period from 2017–2020 will…
Is the German presidency succeeding to consolidate the Union and reinforce the European institutions? by Nicola Beer MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Strasbourg/Brussels Big plans lie ahead. They set…
Concrete solutions for concrete challenges by Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Brussels The urgency of the EU’s…
by Cyrille Schott, Préfet (h.) de région, Member of Board of EuroDéfense France, Paris If the performance of authoritarian regimes and democracies in the face of the pandemic has been…
by Professor Dr Ulf Dittmer, Director of the Institute for Virology, University Medicine Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen Viruses are very small pathogens that cannot be seen without significant magnification. However,…
The Covid-19 pandemic has given powerful impetus to the digital transformation of health and care by Dr Roberto Viola, Director-General, DG Connect, European Commission, Brussels Digital technologies promise to make…
A n improved common EU health policy would not only be helpful – as has become more than clear against the background of the current pandemic – but is actually…
by Federico Fabbrini, Full Professor of EU Law at Dublin City University and Founding Director of the Brexit Institute, Dublin The withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European…
Solidarity between the peoples of Europe is the overarching aim of European integration. Its fundamental treaties refer to it and include it in many of their articles – the preamble…
The European: Minister Asselborn, you are Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and Minister for Immigration and Asylum. You are largely known in Europe as the personality embodying the…
The Covid-19 pandemic has become the generational public health crisis we all feared. A crisis that has changed all aspects of life. Over the past nine months, we have witnessed…
by Joseph Maina, Head of the EU CBRN CoE Regional Secretariat for Eastern and Central Africa (ECA), Nairobi The African continent is now, more than ever before, mo- bilized to…
by El Hadj Lamine, Head of the EU CBRN CoE Regional Secretariat for North Africa and Sahel (NAS), Algiers Nowadays, the world is a small village thanks to the unprec-…
by Major Abdullah M. AlSaleem, Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, Kuwait City Based on science and knowledge, organisations strive to achieve the necessary progress that serves societies and provides them with…
by Al-Sharif Nasser bin Nasser, Managing Director of the Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS) and Head of the EU CBRN CoE Middle East Regional Secretariat, Amman The Regional Radiation Detection…
by Brigadier General EngineerHussein Ahmed al Harthi, Head of the GCC Regional Secretariat, EU CBRN CoE, Abu Dhabi The EU CBRN Centres of Excellence (EU CBRN CoE) initia-tive in the…
A field report from Uzbekistan by Nannette Cazaubon In November 2019, together with Editor-in-Chief Hartmut Bühl, I took a flight to the capital of Uzbekistan in Central Asia. We were invited…
by Otabek Kasimov, Head of Inspectorate on supervision of the implementation of the Convention on Prohibition of Chemical and Bacteriological Weapons, Tashkent Alongside the reforms initiated by Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the…
by Dr Rudi Pauwels, Serial biotech entrepreneur and Founder & President of the Praesens Foundation, Brussels As an organisation devoted to epidemic preparedness, Praesens is committed to supporting the EU…
The European: Monsieur Salami, you are the Head of the Re- gional Secretariat for the African Atlantic Façade (AAF), one of the eight regions in the CBRN Centres of Excellence initiative…
(Ed/nc) The current global coronavirus crisis has brought biological risks and the necessity to prepare for pandemics to the fore. But the mitigation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN)…
60 years of scientific experience By Said Abousahl, Head of Unit, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Brussels Established as a Joint Nuclear Research Centre by the Euratom Treaty, the European Commission’s…
Europe’s institutions must be able to anticipate and efficiently manage upcoming crises By Natalia Pouzyreff, French member of Parliament and member of the Parliamentary defence committee The Covid-19 pandemic has…
A network of networks to support CBRN risk mitigation, including non-proliferation By Tristan Simonart, CBRN risk mitigation, DG DEVCO, European Commission, Brussels Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the European…
Op-ed on the EU’s reaction to the coronavirus crisis and the lessons learned By Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the…
The EU needs to preserve its unity, sanity and common sense By Tonino Picula MEP, Foreign Policy Coordinator for the S&D Group, European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg It is definitely not an…
By Antonia Marie de Meo, Director of UNICRI, and Marian de Bruijn, Programme Coordinator at UNICRI, Turin In the area of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) risk mitigation, no…
The Regional Prefect (ret) Cyrille Schott, Member of the board of EuroDéfense France and the Editor-in-Chief of this magazine, Hartmut Bühl, set out their thoughts on the Franco-German partnership at…
The European: Minister, at the end of Exercise Jeyran in Tashkent in November 2019, you concluded: “Finally we are striving together with the European Union for interregional cooperation in antiterrorism…
We are proud to share that on 26th November, our magazine was awarded the Jury’s special prize as part of the European Award for “Citizenship, Security and Defence”. They praised…
“Jeyran” field exercise successfully carried out in Uzbekistan Tashkent, 15 November 2019 Today, the Counter-Terrorism Field Exercise “Jeyran” was concluded in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This major three-day event (13-15 November) was…
Interview with Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg The interview was led by Hartmut Bühl and Nannette Cazaubon “I believe that the next great achievement for the European…
by Ioan Mircea Pașcu, Vice-President, European Parliament, Brussels /Strasbourg The deterioration of the security situation around Europe has accompanied the international financial and economic crisis of 2008. The EU has…
by Manfred Weber MEP, Chairman of the EEP Group, European Parliament, Brussels/ Strasbourg “We must create a European army by 2030, not to replace national armed forces, but to unite…
by Ana Gomes, MEP (S&D, Portugal), European Parliament, Brussels/Strasbourg After 15 years and three mandates fulfilled as a MEP in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats,…
Interview with Henriette Geiger, Director, DG DEVCO, EU Commission, Brussels “Our work is driven by the promotion and respect of EU values and principles, such as democracy, the rule of…
Interview with Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs/Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Luxembourg The interview was conducted by Editor-in-Chief Hartmut Bühl. ”The instrumentalisation of the debate about migration…
There is a historic opportunity to strengthen our partnership “For too long, the relationship between Europe and Africa was one of dependency, charity or cooperation on an ad-hoc basis.” by…
Interview with Verena Papke, Director General, SOS MEDITERRANEE Germany, Berlin The interview was conducted by Nannette Cazaubon “We have to understand that people do not run towards something or a…
by Wolfgang Hellmich MdB, Chairman of the Defence Committee, German Bundestag, Berlin Beyond differences and geographical boundaries there is a common interest – how Jean Monnet characterised Europe’s diversity. While…
Interview with Martin Konertz, Director Capabilities, Armament & Technology, EDA, Brussels “PESCO will be successful if it can strike the right security and defence balance between the European and the…
A model for the development of future European strategic projects by Patrick Bellouard, President of EuroDéfense France, Paris “This project constitutes a great European achievement; it could be used as…
Interview with Gerald Knaus, Chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin The Interview was conducted by Editor-in-Chief Hartmut Bühl “The promise that Western Balkan countries may one day join…
By Bärbel Dieckmann, President of Welthungerhilfe, Bonn “From its years of experience, Welthungerhilfe knows that each euro used before an emergency is four to five times more effective than funds…
By Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for the Energy Union, European Commission, Brussels “Our economic future depends on our leadership in the solutions of tomorrow.” There is a proverb saying: if you…
Interview with Franz Untersteller MdL, Minister of Environment, Climate and the Energy Sector of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart The interview was conducted by Editor-in-Chief Hartmut Bühl “Today, consumers can also be energy…
By Greta Nielsen, Advisor, Federal Office of Bundeswehr Infrastructure, Environmental Protection & Services, Bonn “Consequences of climate change, such as shifts in global precipitation patterns, sea level rise or the…
By Mauro Petriccione, Director-General, DG Climate Action, European Commission, Brussels “Climate change is clearly not a conventional security threat and addressing it will require a comprehensive and integrated approach, across…
By Philippe Quevauviller, DG Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, Brussels “Policy development and implementation rely on effective interactions among policymakers, research, industry and practitioners in the EU Member States.”…
By Adina-Ioana Vălean MEP, Chair of ENVI Committee, European Parliament, Strasbourg/ Brussels “In the past, the European Parliament has been attaching particular importance to strengthening chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear…
By Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Brussels “Europe’s prosperity and security cannot be entirely separated from that of its neighbours.” We live in uncertain times.…
By Dr Christoph Erdmann, Managing Director of Secusmart, Düsseldorf Terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and war – security is the defining issue of our time. It is a huge challenge for…
By Maj Gen (ret) Koen Gijsbers, General Manager, NATO Communications and Information Agency, Brussels “The decision to recognise cyber as an operational domain alongside the existing environmental domains of land,…
By Peter Round, Managing Director of PKR Solutions, Bedale Divide and rule is an old principle and we don’t have to look farto find leaders using the principle. We are…
By Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol, The Hague “As cybercriminals are constantly changing the rules of the game, complementarity, flexibility and innovation are paramount to the successful implementation of the…
By Arne Schönbohm, President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Bonn “IT security has become one of the central requirements of information and communication technologies.” Powerful and secure…
On 31 January, the multi-mission satellite GovSat-1 was successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. GovSat-1 is the first satellite…
On 24 January, the European Commission reported on the progress made towards an effective and genuine Security Union, including priorities such as countering radicalisation, enhancing cybersecurity and protecting public spaces.…
55 years ago, on 22 January 1963, Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer signed the Elysée Treaty aimed at achieving reconciliation between France and the Federal Republic of Germany. French…
