From Global Strategy to Strategic Compass: Where Is the EU Heading? Egmont Security Policy Brief No, 121 December 2019

Biscop, Sven (2019) From Global Strategy to Strategic Compass: Where Is the EU Heading? Egmont Security Policy Brief No, 121 December 2019. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

Does the EU need a “Strategic Compass” to guide the implementation of the security and defence dimension of the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS)? Does it need a military strategy perhaps? And what about a review of the EUGS itself? As Josep Borrell has assumed the post of High Representative, various proposals by Member States and EU institutional actors are being discussed in Brussels. The wish for more strategic documents may reflect the complexity of the challenges that the EU is facing. It may also result from the inability to fully implement existing strategies. Producing new documents can be a way of forging a deal between Member States on foreign policy priorities for the next five years. But it could also be window-dressing, occupying the machinery and deluding ourselves that we are active. How to take EU strategy and its implementation forward?

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