CSDP after Brexit : the way forward

The Common Security and defence Policy (CSDP) will be strongly impacted by the imminent divorce between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), for better or for worse. What tomorrow will bring is nevertheless still unknown. The Brexit negotiations in the area of defence were supposed to be easier and more consensual than in other fields. It does not seem to have been the case so far. The first part of the study focuses on the terms of the equation. It analyses the new interest of the United Kingdom for the CSDP, the proposal made by the UK to the EU in this area, how the EU has answered so far and what are the existing rules and practices allowing the involvement of third counties in the EU defence policies. The following part examines the potential impact of Brexit on the most promising defence policies that the EU is presently carrying out: the support to the defence industry, PESCO, the Galileo and Copernicus programs and, naturally, the CSDP missions. Finally, this study reviews the EU options on the table of one of the most difficult negotiations in contemporary history.