06/12/2023
On the 14th and 15th of November 2023, in the beautiful frame of the conference hall of the Madou tower, the European Security and Defence College’s (ESDC) Annual Training and Education Conference (ATEC) took place. The event reached its end after two days of exceptional gathering of experts, professionals, and enthusiasts in the field of CSDP.
The focus of this year addressed emerging and crosscutting issues within the CSDP landscape and provided a crucial space for comprehensive exchanges on transformative changes, as well as a seamless flow of knowledge around the advancement of the new Civilian CSDP Compact aimed to reshape the CSDP training architecture.
The conference, organised in close cooperation with the EEAS Directorate for Peace, Partnerships and Crisis Management (PCM), the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) and the European Union Military Staff (EUMS), was a unique opportunity to analyse crosscutting training requirements and lessons identified from CSDP missions and operations. The title ‘Adapting to the new challenges for CSDP training’ envisaged a space where to discuss recent CSDP developments and emerging policies, with a view to reflect these in training opportunities and explore civilian and military synergies through networking.
ATEC is indeed an invaluable forum, which enables participants to expand their networks at EU level and with institutes in different Member States, by providing a great opportunity to interact with the relevant EU institutions and training institutes from all over Europe.
The target group included military, police, diplomatic and civilian training institutes in Member States, think tanks, universities, EU institutions and agencies working on topics related to peace operations and crisis management, and was concurrently open to third countries and international organisations.
Among the main remarks that featured this annual conference, the ESDC had the honour to host high-level keynote speakers. As such, MEP Costas Mavrides, member of the subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) opened the first session with an exceptional welcoming speech. Moreover, the opening session featured Mr Holger Osterrieder, Head of the ESDC, Major General Gabor Horvath, Deputy Head of the EUMS, Mr Cosmin Dobran, Director of PCM at EEAS, and Mr Victor Tarella, Deputy Head of Division for Coordination and Horizontal Affairs at CPCC.
The second panel aimed to provide an overview on the CSDP Training Architecture on civilian and military side, according to the findings of the CART 2023, to discuss the challenges arisen from it, as well as to analyse the function of the EU Policy on Training of CSDP and actions in view of the 2024 revision. The dialogue on Coordination of Training/TRA Process and Quality Assurance of CSDP Training was moderated by Ms Jutta Weinmann (PCM.1) and Mr Kuisma Kinnunen (PCM.1) and activated by Mr Traian Bradu (EUMS), Mr Philipp Bovensiepen (SECDEFPOL) and Mr Isak Enstrom (ESDC).
This year ATEC had a specific Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) session, which introduced it as a concept and why it is considered as an emerging hybrid threat. It was defined how much of risk is FIMI for future European elections and public debates, since it results to be especially dangerous when used to undermine our democracy and the core values which the EU is built upon. To counter that, reacting every time to debunk FIMI is plainly not enough and specific, and practical measures and training are required in order to avert and mitigate the risks of foreign manipulation in the long term. To guide these trainings, robust strategies at the EU level need to be well established and communicated to Member States. Mr Evangelos Englezakis (ESDC) moderated the debate on the ensuing suggestions to practically measure and counter such a risk, along with Ms Evgenia Karatari (EEAS/Situation Room), and Ms Nadia Kovalcikova (EUISS).
The following session featured hybrid threats and challenges in order to analyse how the speed, scale and intensity of hybrid threats have increased in the last years. Mr Teemu Tammiko (EEAS, MD-PSD.SECDEFPOL) and Prof Bernard Siman (Egmont Institute) tackled the theme of the EU’s state of preparedness to prevent, counter and respond to hybrid attacks, whether by state or non-state actor, and the possible impact of hybrid threats to CSDP missions and operations.
Furthermore, the second day of the conference hosted a session on energy policy on security and defence with a view to provide an overview of the EU policy approach and the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) role in supporting the Member States’ Ministries of Defence’s transition to green, resilience and efficient energy models. Strategies and practices enhancing energy resilience and climate change adaptation while preserving armed forces’ operational effectiveness were thoroughly discussed by Dr Constantinos Hadjisavvas (EDA) and Ms Maja Kuzel (EDA).
The final panel on the adoption to emerging challenges to CSDP training closed the 2023 CSDP ATEC conference by introducing the new challenges raising up in the constantly changing geopolitical environment and highlighting how these might affect effective training on CSDP.
Prof Dr Foteini Asderaki (University of Pireaus), Dr Fergal O’Regan (Deputy Head of ESDC) and Nikolaos Ntarzanos (PhD Fellow of the ESDC Doctoral School) highlighted the need for the EU to be able to protect its citizens and contribute to international peace and security, since the current rapidly changing international environment and the emergence of new global powers. Training, education, and research activities are believed to address the transformation of the EU into a stronger geopolitical actor capable of responding to crises and global changes, including an unstable and even hostile international environment.
In this regard, the ESDC starks itself to create a network of various educational institutions, further enhancing the common European security and defence identity and culture within the EU and beyond. The ESDC puts forward itself as a knowledge and training hub for CSDP training in cooperation with its network institutions, including EU bodies.
The answer of this year’s ATEC aims at innovative and tailor-made ways of learning and new modes of provisions as a way to address the various target groups involved in the CSDP landscape (military, civilians, experts, national administration).
The ESDC is proud to have organised this event (a special shout-out here to our training managers Mr Evangelos Englezakis, Mr Christoforos Christoforou and Ms Maria Grazia Romano) and would like to thank all participants and speakers! We are already looking forward to seeing you at ATEC 2024!
