The Development of EU Cooperation on Security and Defence

EU cooperation on defence has developed at an ever-increasing pace since the launch of the Global EU Strategy in June 2016. Along with the Strategy, new tools have been created including the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the European Defence Fund (EDF), the coordinated annual review on defence (CARD), and the military planning and conduct capability (MPCC) at the European Union Military Staff. The focus is now on the implementation of these various initiatives, and the Member States have, together with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Commission, an important role in obtaining results from now on.

At the same time, Europe faces challenges in the form of mounting geopolitical tensions where players like China and the USA show a renewed interest in EU activity and organization. This raises several questions. What will the future look like from the point of view of EU cooperation on security and defence? What are the interests of Finland and Sweden in this development? What kind of an actor will the EU be in the world of the future and what impact will the added geopolitical tensions have on Europe? How to apply the mutual defence clause of the EU in practice? How to consider it in relation with other safety structures such as NATO?

Moderator: Yrsa Grüne, journalist

PROGRAMME

10am Welcome
Jan-Erik Enestam, a former Minister of Defence and now Chairman of the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation

10.10am Introduction
Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission
(via video link)

Key note
Esa Pulkkinen, Director General of European Union’s Military Staff EUMS

Finland-Sweden dialogue
Johanna Sumuvuori, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Tommy Åkesson, Principal Secretary of the Swedish Defence Commission

Europe dialogue
Serge Tomasi, French ambassador to Finland
Uwe Clemens, German military attaché in Finland

11.15am Lunch sandwich

12pm Researcher panel
Jana Puglierin, Head of Program, DGAP
Gunilla Herolf, Senior Associate, UI
Björn Fägersten, Head of Programme and Senior Reseacher, UI
Charly Salonius-Pasternak, Senior Research Fellow, FIIA

1pm  Discussion
Beatrice Ask, Chairperson, Committee on Defence, Sweden
Ilkka Kanerva, Chairperson, Defence Committee, Finland
Niklas Karlsson, Vice Chairperson, Committee on Defence, Sweden
Jari Ronkainen, Vice Chairperson, Defence Committee, Finland

2pm Closing

Webcast: hanaholmen.fi, ui.se
Languages: Finnish, Swedish and English with simultaneous interpretation.
Organizers: Hanaholmen, The Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation, Utrikespolitiska institutet, Stockholm, Defence Committee, Finland, and Committee on Defence, Sweden.
More information: Project Manager Tina Räihä, tina.raiha(at)hanaholmen.fi

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