6.9.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 342/171 Thursday 17 February 2022
F. whereas the increasing complexity of threats is linked to technological development, the digitalisation of societies and the integration of international economies; whereas, as a result, hybrid threats are proliferating, combining military and/or non-military means such as disinformation, the use of migration for blackmail, cyber-attacks or economic pressure that run counter to European interests and values and constitute a growing threat to the security of the EU, its enterprises, its public services and its citizens; G. whereas, in order to address the risks of crisis that are multiplying at the Union’s borders and in the areas in which it has interests, the Member States have committed to providing rapid response capabilities in line with the EU’s headline goals, in particular battlegroups; whereas these suffer from various limitations in political, organisational and financial terms; whereas, as a result, they have never been deployed; H. whereas an unprecedented build-up of Russian forces in and around Ukraine linked with demands put forward by Kremlin could — if not countered — lead to the return of spheres of influence in Europe and cut short the ambitions of the EU’s eastern partners, such as Ukraine and Georgia, to join NATO; I. whereas the international community, and especially the EU, has a commitment to the Sahel and to Mali in particular; whereas the Malian junta has welcomed and already uses Russian military instructors and mercenaries connected to the so-called Wagner group to participate in military activities in Mali; whereas that firm has committed atrocities in every location where it has intervened; J. whereas the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return to power of the Taliban is leading to an increased terrorist risk for the region and also beyond it; whereas the EU deployed a CSDP mission, the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL Afghanistan) from 2007 to 2016), and granted EUR 17 billion to Afghanistan; whereas during the withdrawal, Member States depended on the United States, which deployed 6 000 soldiers to secure Kabul airport within a very short time, making it possible to evacuate European citizens as well as Afghan nationals who were in danger; whereas, in this situation, the EU was unable to put an air bridge in place or to coordinate its own evacuations; whereas if the EU had to run an operation similar to the evacuation from Kabul, it would not, as things currently stand, be able to take decisions swiftly, deploy troops or successfully implement evacuations or air bridges effectively and proactively; whereas, therefore, the EU and its Member States must urgently learn all the lessons of the Afghan crisis in order to strengthen the EU’s capacity to act autonomously in similar circumstances; whereas the Strategic Compass should make it possible to set the EU’s level of ambition, in particular in terms of the lessons learned from the Afghan failure;
Developing an EU security and defence doctrine using the Strategic Compass to drive strategic autonomy 1.
Stresses that the EU is facing:
— new and evolving threats emanating from both state and non-state actors in a multipolar world, such as terrorism, the rise of authoritarianism, hybrid threats through hybrid warfare means such as cyber-attacks, and the instrumentalisation of migration, disinformation and foreign interference, which have blurred the lines between war and peace, increasing threats to natural resources, energy security, and climate change; — increased militarisation around the world, with recurring global power competition with an increasing military dimension and rising geopolitical tensions, an age of ‘unpeace’ characterised by hostile competition, reduced disarmament efforts and international arms control regimes, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear weapons, and the use of chemical weapons; — a still unstable neighbourhood, both in the East and in the South; considers that instability and unpredictability on the Union’s borders and in its immediate neighbourhood (North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, etc.), as well as in its extended neighbourhood (Sahel, Horn of Africa, etc.), together with Russian aggression against Ukraine and Georgia pose both a direct and indirect threat to the security of the continent; stresses the inextricable link between internal and external security; acknowledges that active engagement in the neighbourhood is in the interests of the European Union; stresses the importance of stability in the Western Balkans; notes with concern the increasing militarisation of the Crimean Peninsula and the attempts by the Russian Federation to destabilise the Black Sea region;