CESI’s 4th European Defence Round Table (EDRT)*

March 21st 2022 | 11 AM- 1 PM | online 

War at the EU’s borders 

How does the Russian invasion of Ukraine impact the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)?

The 24^th of February 2022 marks the beginning of a new era. The Russian invasion into Ukraine threatens societies, sovereignties, peace, democracy, freedom, and not least economic wealth in Europe. This war obliges us to rethink and re-evaluate our policies in terms of geopolitics, security, defence, and energy security, and it catalyses aims to establish a genuine European Defence Union – with reinforced links to NATO.

One the one hand, the international community, the European Union, its Member States and military allies must take a firm stand against the Russian aggression. On the other hand, diplomacy, de-escalation and the preservation and restauration of peace remain ethical imperatives.

In this turmoil, the Council will decide on the so-called ‘Strategic Compass’ for the EU in March, while NATO foresees to adopts new ‘strategic concepts’ for NATO and EU-NATO relations.

CESI invites experts, policy makers, representatives of the personnel of armed forces and all interested citizens in Europa to reflect and exchange on opportunities to enlarge the European footprint on security matters in the EU interest area. The event shall in particular address the following questions:

• What are possible scenarios of the war in the short and long term?
• What are the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war for Member States, the EU and NATO?
• Will this war speed up the European efforts for achieve a European Defence Union?
• What will the foreseen EU Rapid Deployment Capacity require in order to become operational?
• What will the changing geopolitical setting mean for representatives of the civilian and military personnel of the armed forces?

With the participation of:  

• Bernard Guetta, Member of the European Parliament
• Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General
• Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Elena Lazarou, European Parliament Research Service
• Christian Moos, German Civil Servants’ Association (dbb), member of the European Economic and Social Committee
• Thomas Sohst, German Armed Forces Association (DBwV), President of CESI´s Commission ‘Defence’
• Fabian Zuleeg, European Policy Centre

Please register for the event here.

*CESI’s European Defence Round Table (EDRT) aims at including more key players and stakeholders in the processes of the Common Security and Defence Policy.