The European Union And Crisis Management

The European Union is increasingly being asked to manage crises inside and outside the Union. From terrorist attacks to financial crises, and natural disasters to international conflicts, many crises today generate pressures to collaborate across geographical and functional boundaries. What capacities does the EU have to manage such crises? Why and how have these capacities evolved? How do they work and are they effective? This book offers an holistic perspective on EU crisis management. It defines the crisis concept broadly and examines EU capacities across policy sectors, institutions and agencies. The authors describe the full range of EU crisis management capacities that can be used for internal and external crises. Using an institutionalization perspective, they explain how these different capacities evolved and have become institutionalized. This highly accessible volume illuminates a rarely examined and increasingly important area of European cooperation.

In less than a decade, Europe has witnessed a series of large-scale natural disasters and two major terrorist attacks. Growing concern about the trans-national effects of these incidents has caused the EU Member States to seek more multilateral cooperation. As a result, a system of common arrangements for handling large-scale emergencies or disasters has emerged, which, due to its quick and ad-hoc development, may seem almost impenetrable to newcomers to the field. This book seeks to provide a much-needed overview of disaster and crisis management systems in the EU. It provides a basic understanding of how EU policy has evolved, the EU’s mandate, and above all, a concise and hands-on description of the most central crisis management arrangements. Written by some of Europe’s main experts and consultants in the field, this book represents a unique and comprehensive source of information for everyone involved or interested in the European Union crisis management system. "This book will quickly become an indispensable resource for two groups: Practitioners will enjoy its accessible and comprehensive style. Academics curious about this emerging field will turn to it for an introductory overview. As someone who closely studies this field, I find the book engaging, detailed, and accurate, and I read every line with great interest. The authors are to be commended for the quality of research that went into this work." Mark Rhinard, Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)

In the wake of the Balkan wars, the EU has worked hard to close the so-called 'capabilities-expectations gap' in the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). With the institution of new political and military structures and procedures, the agreement on principles for consultation and cooperation with other international organizations, the adoption of an acquis sécuritaire, and the launching of twenty ESDP operations, the EU has affirmed its operational capacity in ESDP. The proliferation of the EU's institutional and operational mechanisms to manage crises on its doorstep and farther afield has led to a whole series of new legal and policy questions, which were addressed at the 37th edition of the T.M.C. Asser Institute's Colloquium on European Law in 2007. The contributions by leading academics and practitioners to the Asser Colloquium have been expanded and updated in the light of the Lisbon Treaty and are now available in this unique compilation.

This book explores European Union crisis management and draws implications for its role as an international security actor. The success of EU crisis management has varied greatly and this book aims to identify the key factors that explain the differing degrees of coherence through a comparative analysis of its multidimensional crisis responses in Africa. The empirical focus lies on three prominent EU crisis management cases, namely Libya in 2011, Somalia in 2011-2012, and the Sahel in 2012-2013. It analyses the activities and interaction of EU institutional actors and member states, with a focus on France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The book argues that the EU represents a rather unpredictable security actor, whose multi-level coherence is contingent on the congruence of domestic economic and electoral interests, as well as national threat perceptions, and the extent to which EU-level coherence norms resonate with national norms on the use of force and modes of multilateral cooperation. In sum, this book offers systematic insight into EU crisis management and clarifies the conceptual and empirical boundaries of the comprehensive approach. Finally, the study of the micro-foundations of coherence allows for policy-relevant suggestions on the EU’s future role as a security actor. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, European Security, Peace and Conflict Studies, African Politics and IR in general.

This book assesses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the European Union (EU), as well as its response in dealing with an overarching, multidimensional crisis with consequences extending beyond public health safety to political, economic, legal, and institutional arenas. It argues the pandemic represents a symmetric crisis cutting across countries with different social, economic and political characteristics and which yet - despite favouring cooperative solutions at the supranational level - has largely been met with initial responses of a national, even local, nature. So, how well did the EU perform as a crisis manager in the pandemic crisis? This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of crisis, pandemic and health management, European Union politics and governance.

This report, written as part of a wider review of human rights in EU foreign policy, describes and assesses the current decision-making structures and procedures for EU military, police and civilian crisis management missions throughout the world. EU interventions or missions in non-member countries are a relatively recent development, and have largely been undertaken to ensure more effective co-ordination of humanitarian, peace-keeping, and peace building efforts by Member States in response to international conflicts and crises - and perhaps also to project the role of the EU as a major actor on the global stage. EU missions may involve the deployment of military forces in peace-keeping or peace enforcement operations, the deployment of military and police personnel in a preventive role or with a view to maintaining public order or controlling criminal activity, or they may involve the provision of civilian support for the rebuilding or redevelopment of the rule of law in countries where governmental structures have broken down. This report examines the incidence of these interventions, as well as their interaction with other bodies such as the UN, NATO, the African Union and voluntary coalitions, and the complex diplomatic and military negotiations leading to particular operations. The focus on assistance reflects the primary responsibility of the EU not to act independently of the UN and other international bodies but to provide support and assistance to the wider international community. The main aim of the report is not to provide a detailed analysis of the success or failure of particular missions, but is to describe the often complex and confusing structures developed over the past decade and to assess the past, present and future of the EU's responsibility to intervene in international crises.

This book analyzes the approach of the European Union to crisis management after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and it assesses the EU's suitability for addressing current and future security threats. The book primarily provides a framework of analysis with which to interpret current EU crisis management, as both a product of the innovations of the Lisbon Treaty and its interaction with the international security environment. It also offers a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the post-Lisbon crisis management system, in terms of concepts, structures, process, and capabilities. A reality check of this system is conducted by analyzing a number of case studies in which the EU recently carried out a crisis management role: the civilian missions EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Nestor, and EUAVSEC South Sudan, as well as the military operation EUTM Mali. This analysis sheds light on the modalities selected by the EU for intervening in crisis situations, the impact that its interventions have produced, and the lessons that the EU has learned from these experiences. The book points out the structural strengths and weaknesses in the EU's approach to and implementation of crisis management, and it shows how they impact the EU's ability to cope with future crises. It fills a gap in the existing literature and, at the same time, provides decision makers with policy recommendations for improving the EU's performance in this field. *** "This is an important piece of research on the theory and practice of 'crisis management' as carried out by the European Union. The book constitutes a significant contribution to understanding the doctrine, the institutions and the actual policies that underpin the Union's external action. Its comprehensive and forward-looking approach ensures that both scholars and practitioners will find it an indispensable tool to rely upon in the future." -- Dr. Antonio Missiroli, Director of the European Union Inst. for Security Studies Subject: EU Law]

With her research, Svenja Post offers an in-depth analysis of the implementation of the Comprehensive Approach in international crisis management both on EU and on member state national level. The author demonstrates in detail which steps have been taken on conceptual and on structural level by the EU and its member states Great Britain, Germany and Sweden to organize and realize crisis management coherence. In addition to identifying challenges involved actors are confronted with, Svenja Post also points out a set of recommendations for future efforts to close the gap between aspiration and reality of comprehensive European crisis management.

The crises of the European Union extend beyond the challenges of Covid-19, Brexit, the Eurozone, and mass migration, cutting to the core of the EU itself. Taking a structural rather than event-based approach, this text unpacks all aspects of the EU in crisis and analyses the implications of these crises for the EU and its member states. This edition argues that crises and challenges are no longer unique and discreet events facing the EU, but rather, they are better understood as sustained conditions that have changed the relationships between member states, the functioning of institutions, the nature of public engagement and the prospects for integration. Chapters broach institutional issues as well as specific policy challenges, covering questions of legitimacy and leadership and offering a full chapter on democracy and Euroscepticism. Working within both historical and theoretical frameworks, this is the perfect companion for those studying and researching contemporary challenges facing the EU, European integration, political crisis management and transboundary crises more broadly.