Europe: a time for strategy (Egmont Paper 27)

The debate was concluded by the adoption of a Report on the Implementation of the European Security Strategy - Providing Security in a Changing World by the December 2008 European Council,1 which decided to leave the text of the ESS itself untouched. The Report "does not replace the ESS, but reinforces it" and the ESS remains in force. The question now is: will actionable conclusions be drawn from the Report in order to effectively improve implementation of the ESS? For even if one agrees with the decision not to revise the ESS itself, problems of implementation there undoubtedly are. If the process ends here, most observers will rightfully be disappointed. This Egmont Paper summarizes what we see as urgent priorities for the EU to address in order to fulfil its inevitable ambition of being a global strategic actor.