On Tuesday 18 April, MEPs called for strengthening the civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), adopting a report by Alviina Alametsä (Greens/EFA, Finnish) by 493 votes to 81 with 66 abstentions.
The report calls on the Member States to use the new civilian CSDP Compact, due to be adopted in May, to strengthen their strategic vision for civilian crisis management by clarifying the role, effectiveness and added value of civilian CSDP and by defining a common level of ambition for civilian crisis management. For the European Parliament, it is necessary to continue to update and expand upon the tasks of the civilian CSDP.
In addition, MEPs want the new Compact to take into account “as a matter of urgency” the challenges facing civilian CSDP missions.
For the European Parliament, to reach the Compact’s level of ambition, it is necessary to strengthen and provide the necessary capacity, including human capacity, in these tasks. It, therefore, invites the EEAS, in cooperation with the European Commission and the Member States, to establish a structured and regular civilian capability development process to assess the potential for meeting Member States’ capability needs, define requirements, conduct a gap analysis and review progress periodically.
MEPs also call for an increase in the budget for missions; a “more robust and realistic budget that corresponds to the needs of civilian missions” to achieve the ambitions set out. MEPs propose the creation of a ‘Civilian Support Facility’ to provide partner countries with the equipment and services needed to strengthen their civilian capabilities.
The report also provides an update on some of the EU’s CSDP missions.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/6cv (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)