Celebrating 5 Years of the CoE
The European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management (CoE) was delighted to welcome its members, preferred partners, and friends within the civilian crisis management community to Berlin to celebrate the Centre’s fifth anniversary.
On the evening of Wednesday 19th November 2025, the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management hosted a high-level event at the German Federal Foreign Office to mark the occasion of the Centre’s fifth anniversary.
With representatives from the CoE’s 24 members, the European External Action Service, NATO, and the broader civilian crisis management community, the event provided an opportunity to celebrate the CoE’s contributions to EU civilian crisis management to date, and to look ahead to the future of civilian crisis management amid a changing political and security environment.
The evening began with an address from Michael Reiffenstuel, Director for South-Eastern Europe, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the EFTA States, Arctic Policy, OSCE and Council of Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office. He emphasised how the CoE has grown from 14 to 24 members since 2020 and established itself as a significant actor in civilian CSDP.
Johanna Sumuvuori, Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management, then welcomed the guests and expressed gratitude to the Centre’s members and partners for contributing to and drawing value from the Centre’s expertise.
Further welcoming remarks were provided by Ambassador Erik Lundberg, Deputy Director General for Political Affairs of Finland, and Kasper Olsen, Head of the Migration, Peace and Stabilisation Department at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Danish EU Council Presidency.
A panel discussion on ‘Civilian Crisis Management in a Changing World: Civilian CSDP as a Foreign Policy Tool’ followed, exploring ways to make EU missions more effective and resilient to match the rapidly changing security landscape. The discussion featured perspectives from the field, including Cosmin Dinescu (Head of Mission at EU Partnership Mission in Moldova), internal operations expertise from Kirsi Henriksson (Deputy Civilian Operations Commander at the Civilian Operations Headquarters), and strategic input from Corina Zavate (Head of Sector at the CoE). The conversation benefited from an expert intervention by Irene Fellin (NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security and for Human Security).
The evening concluded with closing remarks by Eddy Fonyódi, Head of the EU Security and Defence Division at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of Sweden and in his capacity as Chairperson of the CoE. Mr. Fonyódi looked ahead to the next phase of the CoE’s work, emphasising the need for the Member States to work closer together to implement the Civilian CSDP Compact commitments.
Following this, guests were invited to stay for a networking reception, ahead of the CoE’s General Meeting taking place the next day.
