Facing increasing internal and external threats, the Member States of the European Union are moving closer together in ensuring the Union’s security. The European Council endorsed the Strategic Compass, developed over 18 months, on 24 March 2022. The document, divided into four priorities: ‘Act’, ‘Secure’, ‘Invest’, and ‘Partner’, should represent the common strategic vision for the EU’s role in security and defence in an increasingly complicated environment of international relations marked predominantly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Within the four main priorities there is the first-ever agreed EU threat assessment and a long list of security and defence deliverables, which implies that that there are many issues that still require clarification. This article will take a closer look at potentials and limits of the Strategic Compass in order to show throughout the glace of the document more precisely where the limits of the European Union’s and Member States’ action are within the European security and defence realm, both legally and politically. Finally, this article will try to detect if the Strategic Compass is an appropriate answer for transformation of European security after Russia’s military escalation at the EU’s eastern flank.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
