Reviewing the European Security Strategy in the eastern Neighbourhood

The EU has considerably progressed in fostering a common vision for the European Security Strategy (ESS). It moved beyond the national priorities of individual Member States to collectively consider the interests of the European Union (EU) as a whole, and to separately articulate its external (2003)[1] and internal (2010)[2] security priorities. At the same time, more challenging tasks still lie ahead, as highlighted by the High Representative report of June 2015. Primarily, they relate to:

•facilitating a joined-up vision, merging external and internal dimensions of security;

•developing a joined-up inter-institutional approach involving all Members States and EU institutions, and connecting policy instruments and geographical silos into a European Security Model (ESM); and

•fostering sustainable partnerships (including of strategic interests) with regional and global actors.

If implemented, the strategy has the potential to enable the EU to extend its security goals beyond its borders, and to move closer to its aspiration to become a global (rather than regional) security player. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Commission has been tasked by the Council to develop a comprehensive strategy review by June 2016, taking all institutional views and current developments of the very complex, contested and inter-connected world into account.