High-level Seminar on Civilian Capability Development

On 26 November 2015, the high level seminar on civilian capability development took place in Brussels. Continuing a series of seminars organised since 2010, this event provided a broad platform for discussions on Member States' national strategies for deploying civilian personnel to the European Union's civilian crisis management missions.

The Seminar organised by the EEAS Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) gathered more than 50 high level participants from Member States' Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Ministries of the Interior and Home Offices, Ministries of Justice and academia.

HE Stephan Müller, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the Political and Security Committee (PSC), opened the event outlining the key challenges for the civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Mr Pedro Serrano, Deputy Secretary General for CSDP and Crisis Response, Mr Kenneth Deane, Director of Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC), Mrs Jana Kalimonova, Chair of Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) and Mr Giorgio Porzio, Head of Division in CMPD moderated the sessions of the Seminar.

Two highly pertinent topics in the domain of civilian CSDP were addressed during the event: the ongoing preparation of the Global strategy on foreign and security policy, and the way to further improve the generation of adequate and sufficient civilian capabilities to strengthen ties between the CSDP and the area of Freedom, Security And Justice (FSJ).

After intensive discussions, several findings emerged from the seminar, notably the need to reassess civilian CSDP ambitions through a sub-strategy on the civilian side –and the need to increase the visibility of civilian CSDP through greater political commitment.

The participants expressed their intention to meet again next year. The upcoming Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union has already confirmed it will support the organisation of next year's seminar.