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Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
EU Member states have committed themselves to a Common Foreign Security Policy for the European Union.
High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini has presented the third progress report on the implementation of the European Union Global Strategy, “The EU Global Strategy in Practice - Three years on, looking forward”, which will be discussed by the EU Foreign and Defence Ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council on 17 June 2019 in Luxembourg. The report looks at the progress achieved over the past three years, since the presentation of the Global Strategy in June 2016, in five priority areas - the security of the Union, state and social resilience to our east and south, an integrated approach to conflicts and crises, cooperative regional orders and global governance for the 21st century - and provides possible orientations for the way forward in the coming years.
In a changing security environment, a military approach alone is not sufficient to guarantee safety and stability. That is why the EU approach to security and defence is much broader. The European way to security builds on Europe’s trade-mark mixture of soft and hard power, on the coherent use of these different instruments – the so-called ''Integrated Approach'' – and on cooperation.
Many files on the table at the very first summit between the European Union and the League of Arab States. From the conflicts in Syria – where both the EU and LAS can help "win the peace" when the war will be over, but without taking shortcuts – to the peace between Israel, Palestine and the Arab world. In between, the full implementation of the Stockholm agreement on Yemen, and national reconciliation in Libya, with points also on economic relations, security and migration
The EU and the League of Arab States (LAS) held a Ministerial meeting in Brussels to prepare the first ever EU-LAS Summit, discussing ideas for deeper cooperation on files like Syria, the Middle East Peace Process, and Libya.
Maritime security is a priority for the EU as the world's largest trading bloc and as a global security provider. India is an important partner for the EU and the recently adopted India Strategy seeks to further strengthen and expand this partnership. Against this background, a French military vessel visited the port of Mumbai and hosted a group of EU military representatives on 24 January to promote the EU's role in fighting piracy and in contributing to maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean.
