The European Union has devoted growing attention to sanctions since the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty. In total, the Council has imposed Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) sanctions targeting countries, economic sectors, groups, individuals and entities on 27 different...

The European Union has been conducting operations as part of its common security and defence policy (CSDP) since 2003. In 2010, seven years later, twenty-four military and civilian missions had either taken place or were underway in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and the...

Introduction 7. - 1. Peacebuilding in 3D: an emerging consensus 9. - Responding to the changing nature of conflict 9. - Breaking the conflict cycle 11. - The scope of peacebuilding 12. - Conclusions 13. - 2. The EU: consolidating capacities 15. - Strategic objectives and geographic blueprints...

Energy security has climbed the list of EU energy and foreign policy priorities in the last decade. This process was accelerated by the shock of the 2006 and 2009 disruptions in Russian gas supply through Ukraine, and by the new possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty. Efforts have been...

Many aspects of the so-called Arab Spring came as a surprise: the mass demonstrations, the toppling of dictatorships, and indeed the timing. One of the most unexpected aspects, however, was the behaviour of the respective military forces. Regarded until 2011 as being unequivocal supporters of...

States - whether classified as strong or fragile - and nations still matter in the Sahel, but local and country dynamics are better understood in the broader regional context. The report underscores the necessity for a concerted and comprehensive regional approach, whose importance is...

One of the priorities of the 2014 EU Chairmanship of the Contact Group on ­Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) has been to adequately document the lessons learned from the Contact Group. This includes both the unfiltered accounts of people affected by piracy or involved in the fight against...

The recent history of attempts to reintegrate the post-Soviet space is littered with failed political and economic initiatives. Such initiatives have included the creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the 1990s, the Eurasian Economic Community launched in 2000, and the GUUAM...

The elaboration of a strategic vision for the EU started in 2003 when Javier Solana decided to come forward with a fully-fledged EU security strategy which was later updated in 2008. Today we face new challenges in a much more complex and uncertain world. Hence the need to elaborate a new...

2013 was a crucial year for the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. This collection of key texts will serve both as a useful reference tool and as testimony to the work carried out towards reinvigorating security and defence cooperation in Europe.