Second CoE Workshop on Strengthening CSDP-JHA Cooperation

‘Harmonising Narratives to Bolster Cooperation within Member States’

Making civilian CSDP more joined up is one of the core commitments of the Civilian CSDP Compact to strengthen European civilian crisis management. The CoE seeks to contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between civilian CSDP and Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). To this end, it is conducting a series of three workshops.

The second workshop on Strengthening CSDP-JHA Cooperation: ‘Harmonising Narratives to Bolster Cooperation’, organised in coordination with the Netherlands and Portugal as Chairs of working groups (so called informal clusters) of EU Member States, took place on 6 December 2021. 66 participants from 23 Member States, as well as JHA actors, EU institutions and other stakeholders exchanged their views on CSDP-JHA cooperation and discussed the key takeaways from the first CoE workshop, where cooperation within Member States was central.

Throughout the workshop, it became evident that the national prioritisation and the objectives to be achieved through cooperation between CSDP and JHA should be incorporated into the decision-making process at the institution level, considering that the aspiration to build a real EU security system has become more opportune nowadays, following the adoption of the EU Security Union Strategy for the period 2020 to 2025.

The workshop was moderated by Giuseppe Famà, Head of EU Affairs, International Crisis Group, Volker Jacoby, CoE Director, as well as Sladjana Cemerikic, Policy Coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, Vasco Ferreira, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Portugal, and Michel Rademaker, Deputy Executive Director, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, delivered the opening remarks. FranceItalySlovenia, and Spain provided input with presentations regarding their national approach to CSDP – JHA cooperation. Presentations by the European Commission’s department in charge of migration and home affairs (DG HOME), the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) provided insight into the perspective of the EU institutions.

Three workshops are being conceptualised and organised by Hanneke Brouwer, Seconded National Expert to the CoE from the Netherlands, and Vincenzo Tagliaferri, Seconded National Expert to the CoE from Italy. Following the workshops, the CoE team stands ready to deepen the knowledge shared through offering matchmaking sessions between members and answering requests for support through individual tailored solutions.

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