Common Foreign and Security Policy
Optimising the coordination and impact of national and international instruments
Security and development policy in the EU must go hand in hand by Dirk Niebel, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Berlin
Many developing countries are hit by fragility and violence. Conflicts are fuelled by poverty, a dearth of opportunities, lack of freedom and the uncertainty of life. At the same time, the violent fighting in many countries has a devastating effect on prosperity and livelihoods, destroying all reasonable hopes for the future. Against this backdrop, security and peace pose a real challenge in countries affected by fragility and conflict, not only for foreign, security, economic and development policy but also for other policy areas, such as justice.
The answer to the challenges The answer to that challenge is the Comprehensive Approach, linking policies, ministries and actors in an attempt to optimise the coordination and impact of national and international instruments within international crisis management. It means coordinating both the civilian and the military resources of all relevant institutions, pooling them and/or employing them separately in order to reach a common goal of peace and security.
Linking CSDP missions with other EU instruments The EU is currently piloting the Comprehensive Approach in its mission to the Horn of Africa. Adopting the Strategic Framework for the Horn of Africa in 2011 and appointing an EU Special Representative in 2012 were important steps in the right direction. The EU’s involvement in the New Deal for
The German approach In 2012, Germany adopted the Comprehensive Approach in its guidelines “For a coherent German Government policy towards fragile states”, making it the principle underpinning all actions. This includes inter-ministerial cooperation, at least between the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry of Defence when drawing up policies and strategies for specific crisis regions. Moreover, it is recommended that mixed Task Forces develop coordinated approaches for fragile countries and regions that go beyond the regular coordination between ministries. The guidelines are thus a sign of increased coherence within the German Government. The guidelines cite the European Union along with the United Nations as an important framework for international action by the German Government.
Dirk Niebel has been Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in Berlin from 2008–2013. Since 23 September 2013 he has been acting Minister. He was born in 1963 in Hamburg. After his college entrance qualification in 1983 he spent one year in a Kibbutz in Israel, after which he spent 8 years in the Bundeswehr, leaving the forces as Photo: photothek.net an infantry airborne officer. He holds a Masters degree from the College of Public Administration in Mannheim (1993) and served in the Heidelberg Federal Employment Office until 1998. He joined the FDP (Liberal Party) and became a Member of the Bundestag in 1998, and later of the Federal Board of the FDP.
Somalia is another opportunity to improve coordination between the various fields of policy. By pledging 650 million euros at the Somalia Conference in Brussels in September 2013, the European Commission assumed a share of the responsibility for rebuilding Somalia that it will now have to honour by taking a coordinated approach. I therefore find it all the more important that, in the future, the various departments within the EU in charge of the CFSP and development policy make common cause from the outset. That would mean, for instance, that the officials responsible for EU development cooperation should be involved in drafting missions under the CFSP right from the beginning alongside the usual crisis response units. Networking between crisis response and development cooperation from the outset benefits both areas. For security structures, involving development cooperation can be a way of preparing a considered exit strategy.
Adapting financing instruments accordingly If brought on board early on, development players can help ensure that the outcomes of a crisis intervention mission lay the ground for the creation of permanent structures. Coordination can be facilitated if the EU adapts its financing instruments accordingly. So far, there has been a shortage of financing options that are tailored to explicitly security-related challenges, such as peace operations, counterterrorism or drug policy. For want of alternatives, such operations still depend on resources that are actually meant for purely development-related activities.
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