The Strategic Compass and capability development

The event organized with the title “The Strategic Compass and capability development: Toward greater coherence?” was attended by more than 60 representatives of EU member states and institutions.

The workshop is part of the Hungarian contribution to the capability development cluster of the Strategic Compass, a document containing EU strategic guidelines for the next 5-10 years whose approval on the level of heads of state and government is scheduled for next March.

The discussion consisted of two panels. The first placed emphasis on the member states’ experiences in integrating the results of EU capability development into national defence planning, whereas the other on the institutional opportunities for simplifying EU processes. The discussion was opened by EU ISS Director Gustav Lindström and MoD Deputy State Sectetary for Defence Policy Dr. Gergely Németh. In the first panel, the Hungarian speaker talked about those national experiences that may serve as guidelines for other nations. The audience pointed out the problems that must be solved in the short and the long term so that the defence capabilities needed to reach the EU military ambition level be available.

In what followed, the Deputy Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, the expert of the European External Action Service responsible for the development of the Strategic Compass, the Director Concepts and Capabilities of the EU Military Staff and the research director of the German ECFR formulated their main expectations and touched on those opportunities which may contribute to the debate to be conducted among the member states and may be incorporated into the Strategic Compass if appropriate.