![]() ![]() The EU should give concrete meaning to strategic autonomy by specifying scenarios and political criteria for crisis management and mutual assistance. ![]() The policy brief closes by proposing three core elements of such answers: Second, will more defence investment also amount to better spending? Third, how much strategic autonomy will eventually come out the Compass? Filling the protracted gap between ambition and implementation in the EU’s security and defence policy will require answers to these questions. However, a few things remain unaltered and at least three fundamental questions remain: First, to what extent will the proposed measures really increase the EU’s ability and willingness to act. It shows that the war changed the Compass in three ways: it sharpened the focus, it triggered a leap in European defence spending, and it enhanced the sense of urgency regarding implementation. This policy brief assesses whether the final document lives up to the quantum leap in the EU’s security and defence policy it promises. Faced with this tectonic shift in the geopolitical landscape, the member states and the European External Action Service (EEAS) adapted the document in a last-minute revision and negotiation marathon. This roadmap was virtually complete when Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The Compass represents the most concrete and realistic roadmap for the EU as security provider we have seen in the bloc’s history. It proposes more than 50 deliverables with deadlines, most of them set before 2025. In 46 pages, the document sets out priority actions in four work strands (with punchy headlines): crisis management (ACT), resilience (SECURE), capabilities (INVEST) and partnerships (PARTNER). It is the outcome of a near-two-year process, based upon the EU’s first joint threat assessment and intense member state negotiations. On 21 March 2022, the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council approved the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence. The member states will have to move on these issues if there is to be a real quantum leap. It is less clear whether it will entail a greater capacity to act, more strategic autonomy and better spending. But how realistic is this? The war sharpened the focus of the Compass, it triggered a substantial increase in defence spending, and it enhanced the sense of urgency regarding implementation. The strategy document promises a quantum leap in the EU’s security and defence policy. One month into the Russian war against Ukraine, the EU approved the Strategic Compass. Putin's war and the Strategic Compass by Nicole Koenig (PDF)įor the full text (including figures) please download the PDF above. ![]()
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