The Spanish Presidency and CSDP: Time to Get Serious about the Union’s Military Planning and Conduct Capability

This ARI provides an overview of the EU’s capability for the planning, command and control of CSDP military operations and offers some practical recommendations. This ARI provides an overview of the EU’s capability for the planning, command and control of CSDP military operations and offers some practical recommendations. It argues that the lack of a permanent operational planning capability hampers flexibility in the Union’s planning process, as politico-strategic deliberations over potential CSDP missions lack the crucial operational expertise necessary to address crucial political questions, such as how many troops are needed and for how long or how much the mission will cost. Secondly, the lack of an operational planning capability denies the Union the capacity to develop (advance) contingency planning products, that are so crucial in situations where rapid reaction is required. Finally, the lack of a permanent command and control infrastructure has a negative impact upon the quality and security of the Union’s military Communication and Information Systems (CIS) and hampers the kind of overall situational awareness offered by a central command, so vital for a Union that aims to think more strategically (as argued in the 2008 revision of the European Security Strategy).