Sixth General Meeting of the CoE
On 22nd of November, CoE members and preferred partners (EEAS and NATO IS) met for the virtual encounter as part of the sixth General Meeting of the CoE to review the Centre’s plans for 2023.
The CoE’s workplan for 2023 was unanimously approved by its members, who shared positive feedback and expressed appreciation for the support they have been receiving in the past year. This feedback is a valid indicator that the Centre is headed in the right direction.
Looking ahead, the Centre’s Director Volker Jacoby expressed his commitment to the provision of continuous support to members and preferred partners along two main axes:
Provision of an informal exchange platform on topics relevant for civilian crisis management. The use of this platform is becoming increasingly important and shall feed into the formal discussions on the new civilian Compact to be adopted in 2023.
Provision of tangible advice and individualised support to members’ national administrations throughout the CoE’s 13 work areas.
Providing individualised support to its members requires that the Centre is provided with the necessary capacity. Currently, the Centre benefits from the expertise of seven seconded national experts who bring in knowledge from their respective backgrounds (law enforcement, public prosecution, gender et al. from the national administration, EU missions as well as the EEAS). Those experts are seconded by Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands as well as Lithuania and work alongside the Policy Officers in the Centre. However, additional human resources are much needed to meet the needs of the CoE in its efforts to support its members and preferred partners.
Currently, the Centre is seeking seconded national experts in the following working areas:
- National Systems and Frameworks of Secondment
- Civilian CSDP-JHA cooperation
- Strategic Communication