• Ladies and Gentlemen,



• First of all, allow me to express my thanks to our host, the European Security Foundation for organising this conference. I would also like to express my appreciation for the work the ESF has done so far on fostering the effective democratic scrutiny of an intergovernmental policy, namely, the CFSP, by facilitating the dialogue between the Parliaments and the various CFSP structures.
• One of the main issues of today’s conference, the parliamentary scrutiny of CFSP and CSDP, is of particular relevance today, as the Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly will soon cease its activity. At the same time the new CSDP instruments of the Lisbon Treaty can also be regarded as milestones in the history of this policy. These developments make it particularly important for the CFSP actors to seize this very political moment. As these major changes fall on the period of the Spanish-Belgian-Hungarian presidency trio, we shall support the positive progress of the CFSP and the CSDP, including the enhancement of an interparliamentary dialogue, as appropriate.

The role of the EP and the national parliaments

• I would like to stress the long-standing need to improve transparency and increase the democratic accountability of decisions in the field of CFSP and CSDP. The consultation and scrutiny role as well as the budgetary authority of the European Parliament in the field of CFSP are the cornerstones of the democratic accountability of the rather complex decision making processes of this area. Although the European Parliament has no fundamental legal competence in CFSP, it still plays an important role by ensuring transparency and keeping the general public informed about CFSP issues. The official role of the WEU’s Parliamentary assembly was the scrutiny of WEU politics. At the same time, as one of the main inter-parliamentary bodies dealing with security and defence policy in Europe, the Assembly traditionally played a wide-ranging role in practice.
• Although the Lisbon Treaty confirms the EP’s scrutiny role, it leaves the intergovernmental character of CFSP/CSDP unchanged. In this context, the most important mission of the national parliaments shall be the democratic scrutiny over the national defence budgets as well as the control over the deployment of troops abroad. In accordance with the specific nature of CSDP, however, enhancement of interparliamentary dialogue in this field is encouraged, as appropriate. Protocol 1 on the role of national parliaments in the European Union, annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon, may provide a basis for that.

The new instruments of the Treaty of Lisbon

• Now please allow me to share my ideas with you on the incoming Hungarian “non-presidency”. Our Presidency falls on a period of dynamic change. The Lisbon Treaty has created a new institutional setup that has a strong imprint on CFSP/CSDP coordination with a powerful High Representative supported by the emerging European External Action Service (EEAS). We would like to see the EEAS up and running as soon as possible.
• In all likelihood, ours is going to be the first full-fledged post-Lisbon Presidency. We understand the difficulties with regard to the actual process of setting up the EEAS. However, Hungary would like to take the rotating Presidency of the Council over by “inheriting” an institutional setup as clear and unequivocal as possible.
• Obviously, it is our primary interest as well that the EEAS settles down to day-to-day business as soon as possible and the permanent chairmen of the PSC and the CSDP-related working parties get appointed by 1 January so that the effective work can be commenced.
• Hungary is fully aware of the limited role of the Presidency in the CFSP/CSDP field. The traditional roles have been strongly affected by the Treaty of Lisbon and holding the rotating presidency function of the Council is giving us only a reduced primus inter pares status among other nations in the field of CSDP.
• Therefore, we do not plan to compile a six-month presidency program; instead we intend to offer our full support to the High Representative and the EEAS with a view to help further strengthen the CSDP during the next semester. However, in our view, the organization of some CSDP related events remains a good opportunity for the member state that holds the rotating presidency. Therefore, Hungary has already started preparations for certain CSDP-related informal events, meetings and seminars.
• We strongly support the continuation of work on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and intend to provide impetus to the debate on the provisions relevant to CSDP. Those informal events may help stimulate common thinking on CSDP issues during the next semester.

The Western-Balkans

• In the realm of CFSP we would like to pay special attention to the Western Balkans, the Eastern Partnership, transatlantic relations and CSDP during the next semester.
• 2011 could be a momentous year for the Western Balkans region provided that the EU sticks to its policy of enlargement – by far its most successful stabilization instrument – and the countries of the region focus on compliance with the EU requirements, parallel to the progress based on their real performance and changes on the ground. Simultaneously, it remains vital to maintain political and public support as well as the commitment of the countries of the Western Balkans to the ultimate goal of EU membership.

European Neighbourhood Policy

• We find the on-going reflection on the future implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy important in order to make best use of the new opportunities provided by the Lisbon Treaty and to optimise the ENP’s contribution to the EU’s longer-term objectives.Hungary intends to support the Commission further on in its efforts to successfully implement the Eastern Partnership and we are willing to take any steps that contribute to materializing the main objectives of the initiative. We hope that the next Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held during the Hungarian Presidency in May 2011, will render effectiveness and focus on the initiative.

Transatlantic relations

• The EU-US summit, scheduled for November, should demonstrate the viability of transatlantic partnership by concrete deliverables on some key issues. For Hungary, it is important to maintain the engagement of the U.S. in the Western-Balkans and in Eastern Europe as well. It is important to find appropriate synergies to keep the U.S. interested in energy security and in promoting the necessary economic and social reforms in the region.
• We also need to find the appropriate modalities in our cooperation with the U.S. to ensure the EU’s influence on economic governance, climate change and related issues.
• A way has to be found in order to secure the continuation of our smooth cooperation on Justice and Home Affairs.
• And finally, in further developing CSDP, exploiting the full potential of the EU-NATO strategic partnership also bears significant importance.

Way forward in the field of CSDP, the “Post Lisbon era”

• To successfully carry out our CFSP objectives we have to make full use of the elements of our complex CFSP toolbox, one very important among them is CSDP. CSDP can only be managed in an effective way, however, if this instrument is used in a complementary manner to other elements in that toolbox (e.g. various elements of conflict prevention). No doubt the recent history of CSDP is rich in accomplishments and we can be proud of many of our achievements, inter alia the success of our CSDP missions and operations launched so far.
• On the other hand we shall find common answers to the pressing challenges of the Post Lisbon era of CSDP. This year and the year 2011 offer a great opportunity for stocktaking and seizing the opportunity of shaping further success by implementing the innovations of the Lisbon Treaty. In the same time we must be aware that new treaty provisions and institution will not create the necessary political will by themselves.
• The Treaty of Lisbon opens up new prospects and new possibilities for co-operation, but what matters is whether we can grasp the opportunity and live up to the “challenge”. Two opportunities present themselves at this juncture:
  • design and operationalize the new instruments provided by the Treaty of Lisbon (new issues);
  • harness the momentum of “lisbonisation” and progress on issues long overdue in CSDP (old issues). The entry into force of the ToL provides a stimulus to reconsider the outstanding issues in the field of CSDP (such as capability development or training issues).
• The Treaty of Lisbon has introduced numerous new forms of cooperation regarding CSDP (mutual assistance clause; solidarity clause; permanent structured cooperation; the possibility of the creation of a start-up fund for rapid deployment of experts etc.). As they constitute further opportunities for Member States to strengthen our capabilities we should make the best use of the possibilities ahead of us. However, a realistic, step-by-step approach is necessary.

The effects of the economic crisis

• The austerity measures in Member States already seem to have led to a relative slow down in the development of CSDP. At the same time we need to meet the high expectations created by the Treaty of Lisbon in the field of CSDP notwithstanding the mostly shrinking defence budgets.
• In this context the current economic crisis further increased the pressure to look beyond our national boundaries and consider the pooling and sharing of defence resources as a way of preserving existing capabilities and acquiring new ones.

Pooling and sharing

• Based on the increasing demand of CSDP activities worldwide and the limited resources at our disposal to meet it, ‘pooling and sharing’ is one of the principles that should prevail while seeking for ways of efficiency. For small and medium sized countries there is no real alternative but going multinational.

• The scope of such cooperation is very wide and can be extended to a whole variety of areas, both in the military and the civilian fields, such as logistics, training, infrastructure, capability-building, operations, etc. The possibilities are wide, as the already existing and successfully managed European projects show, such as cooperation within the Nordic and BENELUX countries.

The comprehensive civilian-military approach

• Ladies and Gentlemen, let me draw your attention to the work that still needs to be carried out with the aim of taking forward the comprehensive approach that lies in the forefront of CSDP. In this framework one of our particular objectives shall be the achievement of synergies by closer cooperation and interaction between the various actors and elements of civilian and military CSDP.
• Making better use of existing capabilities and maximizing coherence will be essential in order to achieve these objectives. The necessity of further improving comprehensive operational capability in conflict prevention and crisis management is an everyday experience in CSDP missions and operations. In the medium and longer term the development of dual-use capabilities is necessary. For this purpose the civilian and military capability development processes shall be interlinked where appropriate. This is a very important challenge for the semester to come.

The review of the Gothenburg Program

• The current organisational transformation should not distract our attention from the longstanding issues. As comprehensive approach is our primary interest and ultimate goal while developing CSDP, the strongest possible linkage between conflict prevention and crisis management should be brought in the focus. This is only one, albeit very important aspect of adjusting the various tools the EU has at hand related to its external actions. Not only the 10th anniversary of the Gothenburg Program (on the prevention of violent conflicts), but the set-up of the European External Action Service justifies the stocktaking process in the field of conflict prevention: where are we now, what have we achieved to date, what are the steps forward.
• True it is: the establishment of the EEAS, that entails the consolidation of the competent bodies, provides a momentum that would be luxury to miss. Due to the unique opportunity and the imminent significance the topic represents, during our non-presidency we strive to have it high on the agenda.

CSDP missions and operations

• Since 2003, the EU has conducted a wide range of CSDP missions and operations on three continents, which have delivered highly visible achievements in strengthening peace, security and the rule of law worldwide. During the next semester, Hungary will support the successful management of the on-going EU-led civilian missions and military operations. In this context, the intensive dialogue and cooperation, at all levels, with other relevant international actors, such as the UN and NATO, in conflict management seems essential.
• The Western Balkans region remains an “unfinished business” for the international community. In line with our foreign policy priorities, Hungary makes a powerful contribution to CSDP-missions in the Western Balkans (EULEX Kosovo, EUFOR Althea, EU Police Mission-BiH). Since these missions play a crucial role in strengthening the stability in the whole region, they require continuous attention from our side.
• The gradual transition of EUFOR Althea into a non-executive capacity-building and training mission shall continue, while keeping in mind the necessity of a strengthened EU presence in the country, with particular attention to the after-effects of the elections. We will move forward in close coordination with NATO.
• We hope that EULEX Kosovo may soon start the gradual transfer of its executive powers to the local authorities and that the mission will continue to strengthen its presence in Northern-Kosovo resulting in sustainable rule of law structures that benefit all people in Kosovo, regardless of their ethnic origin.
• EUPOL Afghanistan will remain a major challenge to CSDP, since it is managed in a rather hostile environment, aiming at supporting the difficult reform process towards a trusted and efficient Afghan civilian police service. EUPOL’s efforts supporting the capability-building of the Afghan National Police need to be harmonized with the assistance provided by other relevant international actors, which thereby poses significant coordination challenges.
• The EU’s monitoring mission in Georgia (EUMM) will continue to play a crucial role in the country, as it is the only international mission with a mandate that covers the whole territory of the country.
• Next spring we have to start a strategic debate on the future role of EUMM in Georgia, based on an evaluation of its activities in the three main pillars: stabilization, normalization and confidence building.
• The management of the three civilian CSDP missions in the Middle East require our special attention during the next semester as well, due to the fact that two of them operate on the Palestinian Territories and one of them (EUBAM Rafah) is currently in a “dormant” status, though it is not a “Sleeping Beauty”.
• The security situation in Iraq will determine whether EUJUST Lex could expand its activities to the North and South.
• The failing states as well as piracy activities the international community faces inAfrica represent a durable challenge for CSDP. Therefore, we shall devote further efforts to successfully implement the mandates of the EU’s first naval operation (EUNAVFOR Atalanta) as well as the EU’s training mission in Uganda.

The importance of training

• Training – both on strategic and operational level – is a crucial area with straightforward impacts when it comes to operating our CSDP missions in an efficient manner. CSDP related training is provided by many actors at each level. As the main coordinator, the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) is responsible for providing training on strategic level in association with various national training institutions.
• The College has already proved its value in strengthening the common security and defence culture. It plays a significant role in projecting civil-military synergies at the strategic level, which is inevitable, taking into account the more and more complex nature of EU crisis management. There are also other actors and networks providing CSDP-related training, nevertheless concerning the current overall output of our training system, the operational level (pre-deployment training) seems to be the bottleneck.

• Pre-deployment training addresses the challenges at operational level and has straight impact on interoperability and thereby on the performance of our troops/experts on the field. Well functioning missions and operations are subjects to well trained personnel engaged in EU missions/operations. Therefore, particular attention should be paid to the conduct of training of mission personnel.
• As training was amongst the topics highlighted in the 18 months program of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian presidencies during our non-presidency, we strive to keep the topic on the agenda. Taking into account the preceding work in the field, we intend to give a boost to the area of pre-deployment training during the next semester, while keeping in mind that it is only a pillar within CSDP-training. The reform of the training at operational level and improving the efficiency of pre-deployment training should come along with the reconsideration of the overall CSDP-training structure.

Cooperation with international partners

• Let me quote Mr Javier Solana, the former SG/HR: "Partnerships become more and more important every day. We can do much more than 10 years ago. But we cannot do it alone".
• We all agree that cooperation with other international organisations is a key to success in the field of the CFSP and CSDP. On the basis of the principle of effective multilateralism laid down in the European Security Strategy of 2003, the primary partner of the EU in the international arena is the United Nations. In the field of international crisis management, this partnership has been constantly deepening since the establishment of a framework for cooperation in crisis management in 2003 ("Joint Declaration on UN-EU cooperation in crisis management"). We should continuously work on the improvement of the cooperation and on enhancing its effectiveness, based on lessons learned from previous operational cooperation (e.g. DRC, Tchad/RCA). It should be clearly defined how far the EU is ready to go regarding the support of the UN by military and civilian CSDP-capabilities. Parallel to this, the UN should also clearly define its expectations towards the EU.
• The EU-NATO strategic partnership is indispensable to successfully meet both the traditional and the new security challenges in a concerted manner. The two major elements of this partnership are on the one hand the regular, extensive dialogue, at all levels; on the other hand, the close cooperation in the field of crisis management and capability development.
• Hungary supports all initiatives that are aimed at improving the EU-NATO relations. It is in our interest as well that the cooperation between the two organizations covers all areas relevant to both organisations.
• Harmonizing our respective actions is especially necessary on the ground where both organizations are deployed, such as Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
• The European Council of 16 September unambiguously declared that the transatlantic partnership is based on common values and therefore it is of crucial importance that the two organizations work more closely on major international issues and confront global economic and security challenges together.
• To this end, the High Representative was invited to present ideas on how EU-NATO cooperation in crisis management and other related fields could be further strengthened. The recommendations transmitted in February 2010 by the HR to NATO’s Secretary General Mr. Rasmussen can serve as a basis, and Hungary, as the incoming “non-presidency”, is going to support the work of the HR in this respect in all ways necessary.
• The ongoing work on NATO’s new Strategic Concept offers a window of opportunity to give a new impetus to our co-operation. It is important that we move forward by respecting the two organisations’ decision-making autonomy, seeking maximum complementarity and taking into account the security interests of all countries involved.
• Africa is becoming an increasingly important operational area for CSDP. The civilian and military crisis management operations and missions managed on the African continent clearly demonstrate this commitment, such as the steps taken in the frame of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The completion of the first action plan this year (2008-2010) provides a good occasion for evaluating the first experiences and improving the cooperation especially in the field of Partnership on Peace and Security.
• The principle of African ownership is incredible important. Therefore, the EU has to be committed to further strengthening of the African crisis management capacities (such as the EURO RECAMP-programme), through active support to Security Sector Reform and the strengthening of peace-keeping capabilities.
• The inter-organisational coordination among UN-EU-AU is vital (recent missions in Africa where coordination has been an issue: UNAMID, AMIS / Sudan, EUFOR Tchad/RCA has been transferred to UN-led MINURCAT, AMISOM), but is at the same time posing significant challenges. In order to exploit the different comparative advantages of the different organisations, we need to seriously tackle several areas requiring attention and development, e.g. the promotion of mutual understanding and organisational learning and a wide range of practical mechanisms for field coordination.
• The complex challenge of the crisis in Somalia is a good example for the necessity of close coordination among the efforts or international actors. In order to tackle the problem of piracy in the Horn of Africa a comprehensive approach is needed, where the efforts of the EU – such as political support for the TFG (Transitional Federal Government), donor activities, Operation ATALANTA and EUTM Somalia (EU Training Mission) – should be harmonised with the actions taken by the African Union (AMISOM), UN, NATO etc. in order to be more effective and to avoid duplications.

Concluding remarks

• Finally, allow me to say a few words concerning the challenges the CFSP/CSDP will face in the forthcoming semester. Hungary is fully aware of the limited role of the Presidency that the Treaty of Lisbon brought about in the field of CFSP/CSDP. We would like ours to be the first full-fledged post-Lisbon presidency. It requires an operating EEAS, therefore, we intend to assist the work of the HR as much as we can. The practice that will be established during the Hungarian and Polish presidencies in the realm of CFSP/CSDP might prove decisive for the years to come.
• We should keep in mind that EEAS is only the tool and not the ultimate goal for the EU to become a real global player. CSDP is first and foremost an asset amongst others in the EU’s external relations; therefore it should be “subordinated” to our ultimate foreign policy goals. Due to the profound changes brought by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, it seems to be the right time to pursue extensive discussions on which CFSP purposes we think CSDP should serve in the first place. Fixed strategic goals should serve as a basis for elaborating the detailed function and the content of each foreign policy tool at the EU’s disposal (including that of CSDP).
• Coping with the uncertainties that all the on-going institutional transformations entail, Hungary will pay due attention to the aforementioned challenges and tasks in the field of CFSP/CSDP during the next semester.
• Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention.