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Risk Analysis and Preparedness for the next Influenza Pandemic

On November 13th, the SDA hosted a meeting of health and security experts to discuss how attention is being given to the disparity in risk analysis from both public and private sector actors engaged in pandemic preparedness throughout Europe.

Monday, December 22, 2008
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The Georgia-Russia Stalemate: Dos and Don'ts for avoiding a new Cold War

   

The SDA's most recent discussion paper, entitled 'The Georgia-Russia Stalemate: Dos and Don'ts for avoiding a new Cold War,' focuses on the broader implications of the Georgia-Russia conflict last August. The paper features analyses and observations by expert policymakers, scholars, and industry leaders.

Thursday, December 11, 2008
Download a copy of the document in:EN SDA
SDA Roundtable Report
SDA-ECFR: Reflecting on 'Re-energising ESDP'
 
Nick Witney, Senior Fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations
Co-organised with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), this evening event examined Nick Witney's recent report entitled 'Re-energising European Security and Defence Policy.' Describing his report as a rather unflattering account of the first 10 years of ESDP, Nick Witney explained that his criticism was directed mainly at the member states for failing to reform their militaries, rather than those in Brussels. The discussion also focused on transatlantic cooperation, effective spending strategies, and defence industry priorities.

 

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Download a copy of the document in:EN SDA
SDA Roundtable Report
Key questions defining Afghanistan's future
 

The SDA session was timely given Brigadier Carleton-Smith’s October declaration that “a decisive military victory” against the Taliban should not be expected.

SACEUR General John Craddock questioned whether NATO’s member nations’ political will matched the Alliance’s ambition. Given the many caveats that limited his forces’ options, he argued that the political will was “irresolute”. Stressing that the “comprehensive approach” meant that all international bodies had to work together, General Craddock insisted that the insurgency-funding narcotics trade was the prime target. With the Taliban earning millions of dollars per annum, there was no time to lose.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign
Affairs' Davood Moradian with
SDA Director Giles Merritt and
SACEUR General John Craddock

Thursday, November 20, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
Security and defence priorities during France's EU Presidency

 

Some 120 experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the chief ESDP weaknesses to be tackled and debate what the impact will be of France's return to NATO. Though the debate almost got sidetracked by discussions of the skirmishes in Georgia, participants discussed whether the French Presidency's agenda was too ambitious, and many voices agreed that the Presidency's call for informal high-level meetings between NATO and EU leaders was a way forward.

 French Military Representative
Patrick de Rousiers

Friday, October 17, 2008
Download a copy of the document in:EN SDA
SDA Roundtable Report
SDA Policy Spotlight - Azerbaijan's view of the security situation in the Southern Caucasus

 

The event, which took place on May 27, 2008, comprised a keynote address by Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, followed by a question and answer session.

Insights included:

  • Azerbaijan and Brussels have a mutual interest in increased dialogue.
  • The EU’s approach to the Southern Caucasus is still being tested.
  • Azerbaijan has a key role to play in European energy security.
  • The merits of missile defence and NATO and EU expansion in the Southern Caucasus are open to question.

Friday, June 27, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
The outlook for security and defence technologies

 

 

The event focused on current developments in the field of security and defence technology including transatlantic interoperability, funding and civ-mil cooperation.

Insights included:

  • The European Defence Agency (EDA) is working to form a common set of R&T priorities for Member States.
  • European radio spectrums must be harmonised to ensure emergency first-responders have adequate access to communications technology.
  • EU-NATO cooperation within the realm of defence technology must be improved.
Monday, June 09, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
EU-US defence cooperation

On 14 April, the Security & Defence Agenda together with the Atlantic Council of the United States organised a transatlantic roundtable on the question of EU-US defence cooperation. With two panels and 14 high-level speakers both in Brussels and in Washington, the debate proved to be highly fruitful and a start for more transatlantic dialogue on this subject.

Central elements of the discussions where:

§    The prospects for a permanent structured cooperation within the European Security and Defence Policy;
§    The importance of the EADS tanker deal for future defence cooperation;
§    Questions of interoperability and NATO-EU relations.

 

Sunday, June 08, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
On the eve of Bucharest

 

Romania will be hosting the next NATO Summit in Bucharest on 2-4 April this year. On 12 March the Security & Defence Agenda hosted Romania’s Ambassador to NATO Sorin Dumitru Ducaru, US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland and Belgium’s Ambassador to NATO Baron Frans van Daele.

NATO countries will be deciding whether to admit Croatia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the club but a dispute over the latter changing its name is threatening to spoil the party. Moreover, the NATO Ambassadors discussed whether NATO should give Ukraine and Georgia Membership Action Plans, plus Afghanistan, Kosovo, missile shield plans, cyber defence and energy security in a debate full of interesting insights.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
Assessing the cyber security threat - Roundtable Report


Estonian Minister of Defence,
Jaak Aaviksoo

Following a fascinating debate that ranged from bullet-proof hosting to onion-routing, the conclusion had to be that the cyber security threat was evolving rapidly and was touching all aspects of society. Its political importance is also increasing and in a cyber society that “has no rules or borders, according to Estonia’s Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo, there is a need for improved coordination at the highest level.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
What is the EU's report card on pandemic preparedness?

The debate started as usual, when SDA Director Giles Merritt posited the question “What is the EU’s report card on pandemic preparedness?” The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Angus Nicoll launched the debate with a positive point, referring to the EU and its Member States’ growing coordination and communication to pandemic preparation in Luxembourg last year and that the three upcoming EU presidencies would keep pandemic preparedness on their agendas. DG SANCO’s Andrzej Rys alluded to the Commission’s publication of the Green Paper on bio-preparedness and the establishment of the new Health Security Committee as signs that the Commission is taking pandemic threats very seriously.

 


Friday, February 01, 2008
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SDA Roundtable Report
What future for a European disaster relief force?


SDA Roundtable

Adriano Martins of the European Agency for Reconstruction advocated success in his organisation’s operations, most notably in the Balkans. International Crisis Group’s Alain Délétroz made a case that the EU should be developing its own capacities, via the ESDP, eluding to a permanent civ-mil response HQ in Brussels. Giuliano Porcelli of the Council of the EU, envisioned the tangible improvements in the EU’s operational capabilities for responding to international disasters, vis-à-vis a Lisbon Reform Treaty ratification, that would streamline decision-making when time matters most.


Monday, January 28, 2008
Download a copy of the document in:EN SDA