Security and Defence Subcommittee (SEDE) - European Parliament

In 2022, the EU Strategic Compass included space as a strategic domain, and called for a dedicated European strategy. In the meantime, Russia's invasion of Ukraine confirmed the key role of space for defence and resilience, but also highlighted vulnerabilities related to space systems. Another 'wake-up call' came from a different direction; SpaceX's advances in reusable rocket technology leading to Starship's first orbital flight test turned the spotlight onto launch providers and access to space. Space is a critical infrastructure issue with growing economic significance. It is also an increasingly contested arena between competing geopolitical interests. To address these rising challenges, in March 2023 the European Commission and the High Representative/Vice-President presented their first joint communication on a European space strategy for security and defence.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Length of video : 30'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

This paper presents a regional evaluation in parallel to the EPRS 2023 Peace and Security Outlook. It has been drafted as a contribution to the Normandy World Peace Forum taking place in September 2023. The paper provides the background to EU relations with Iraq. After providing a brief overview of the country's current political, economic and social situation, the analysis provides an inventory of the tools and mechanisms and funding put in place by the EU, looks at recent developments and corresponding EU external policy. It also provides an overview of European Parliament resolutions, and Council conclusions since the 2012 EU-Iraq Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, as well as a selection of the opinions found in recent research on EU-Iraq relations.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The next ordinary meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is scheduled to take place on Monday, 18 September 2023 from 15.00 - 18.30hrs and on Tuesday, 19 September 2023 from 9.00 - 12.30 and 14.30 - 18.30 in Brussels (room SPINELLI 3G2).

The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE missions 2023:

• Germany and Poland - 24-26 July 2023
  
• Armenia - 19-22 June 2023
  
• Romania and Moldova - 15-18 May 2023
  
• Djibouti and Somalia - 1-4 April 2023
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20-23 February 2023
  

SEDE missions 2022:

• SEDE mission to South Korea and Japan - 18-22 December 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Niger from 31 October - 3 November 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Mozambique from 18-22 September 2022
  
• SEDE mission to France from 19-21 July 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Iraq from 24-28 May 2022
• SEDE mission to Georgia from 10-14 April 2022

SEDE meetings' calendar 2023
EP calendar 2023
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Length of video : 97'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Length of video : 46'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Length of video : 129'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

On Tuesday evening, Parliament and Council reached a deal on new rules to incentivise EU countries to jointly procure defence products and support the EU’s defence industry.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Subcommittee on Security and Defence

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

China’s footprint in European critical assets has grown steadily over time, without any centralised mechanism that could give the European Union (EU) and Member State agencies visibility and scrutiny over projects of strategic significance for Europe’s defence and security. China’s footprint poses specific challenges to Europe’s efforts to protect its critical infrastructure. China’s party-led political system does not allow clear distinctions between commercial, political and military interests, often viewing Chinese state and private companies’ international activities as instruments helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expand its influence in foreign countries and undermine geopolitical rivals. The CCP’s military-civil fusion (MCF) strategy incentivises civilian actors to contribute to the modernisation of the People Liberation Army (PLA) through technology transfer. Chinese companies’ access to EU critical infrastructure thus calls for an analysis of threats to Europe’s defence and security architecture. Using research with original Chinese-language sources, this paper analyses the involvement of China state-linked entities in selected critical sectors — ports, rare metals and undersea cables — to identify short-, medium- and long-term threats to the EU’s strategic sovereignty. These cases expose how entities linked to the Chinese party-state can gain access to and exert influence on assets that are vital to Europe’s security and defence, including transport infrastructure, critical resources and telecommunications networks. This research demonstrates that traditional approaches to infrastructure protection based on direct ownership are insufficient, since China’s party-state can obtain access to critical infrastructure through indirect, equally effective channels. As these cases show, infrastructure protection mechanisms, whose codification and implementation remains incomplete, must be extended to be able to scrutinise the risks that China’s leverage over non-science investors and Chinese state-linked contractors pose to the EU’s critical infrastructure.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

This in-depth analysis (IDA) focuses on how to implement the Strategic Compass’s partnership dimension in the field of security and defence, and how to maximise the potential of the EU’s different strategic partnerships. The report not only provides an up-to-date overview of the most important security and defence partnerships, but also places them in their wider historical context, and in the context of future challenges within a fiercely changing geopolitical landscape. The report maps the EU’s different partnerships and their institutional arrangements, as well as the main policy fields in the realm of security and defence. It offers an in-depth analysis of the core challenges of each major partnership and charts out concrete recommendations for gearing each partnership towards a more impactful realisation of the Strategic Compass’s goals. It also examines how existing cooperation arrangements can be improved, and how new fora can be utilised in a more comprehensive manner. Overall, this IDA seeks to examine and assess in detail how the Strategic Compass’s emphasis on security and defence partnerships can be implemented in practice, and what role the European Parliament can play in this process.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

On 29 June, SEDE Members will participate in the workshop on 'The role of cyber in the Russian war against Ukraine: its impact and the consequences for the future of armed conflict'. The discussion will focus on the cyber dimension of the Russian war in Ukraine, assessing how cyber warfare can fit into conventional high-violence conflict.
The workshop will also provide an occasion to identify areas where the European Union needs to make further progress in countering malicious actions of authoritarian regimes across the whole spectrum of hybrid warfare.
Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has been accompanied by massive cyberattacks aimed at destroying strategic data, paralyzing critical infrastructure, inflicting maximum civilian and military damage and destabilizing the population. Russian cyberattacks have been targeting first Ukraine's infrastructure and public institutions, but increasingly also countries that support Ukraine. Sustained military efforts of the Ukrainian armed forces aimed at countering Russian cyberwar have been supported by a large number of volunteers planning and executing strikes on Russian cyber infrastructure, without direct involvement of the government.
Draft programme
Poster
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

SEDE in association with the EXPO Policy Department organises a public workshop on 'The role of cyber in the Russian war against Ukraine: its impact and the consequences for the future of armed conflict' on Thursday, 29 June 2023 from 9.30 to 11.00hrs in room SPINELLI 1E2, with external experts.
The discussion will focus on the cyber dimension of the Russian war in Ukraine, assessing how cyber warfare can fit into conventional high-violence conflict. The workshop will also provide an occasion to identify areas where the European Union needs to make further progress in countering malicious actions of authoritarian regimes across the whole spectrum of hybrid warfare.
Location : SPINELLI 1E2
Draft programme
Poster
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The next ordinary meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 28 June 2023 from 9.00 - 12.30hrs and 14.30 - 18.30 and on Thursday, 29 June 2023 from 9.00 - 12.30 in Brussels (room SPINELLI 1E2).

The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE missions 2023:

• Armenia - 19-22 June 2023
  
• Romania and Moldova - 15-18 May 2023
  
• Djibouti and Somalia - 1-4 April 2023
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20-23 February 2023
  

SEDE missions 2022:

• SEDE mission to South Korea and Japan - 18-22 December 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Niger from 31 October - 3 November 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Mozambique from 18-22 September 2022
  
• SEDE mission to France from 19-21 July 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Iraq from 24-28 May 2022
• SEDE mission to Georgia from 10-14 April 2022

SEDE meetings' calendar 2023
EP calendar 2023
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The current situation in Ukraine has led to severe supply chain disruptions, contributing to a sharp increase in food and commodity prices globally and the limitation of fossil fuel imports from Russia to the EU. Moreover, to end Europe's dependence on semiconductor suppliers from Asian countries, it is necessary to take immediate action of a structural nature, involving all EU Member States and all participants in regional supply markets. The overall aim of this study was to identify drivers of and barriers to building up open strategic autonomy at EU level, before recommending coordinated solutions and addressing supply chain resilience in four critical areas: food security, energy security, semiconductors and satellite communications. This research seeks to contribute to the European Parliament's future work by providing insights into how to protect the European agricultural sector, ensure energy security and the technological sovereignty of semiconductor production, and improve satellite communications.
Study : ENAnnex 1 : EN
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The Subcommittee on Security and Defence holds exchange views on chemical weapons and their non-proliferation and disarmament on 23 May. Members and the EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Ambassador Marjolijn van Deelen, and the Chair of the WG preparing the fifth review conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention, Ambassador Lauri Kuusing, will discuss the outcome of the conference and measures to prevent and deter state and non-state actors from using chemical weapons.
In last 25 years 99,4 % of the global declared stockpiles of chemical weapons were destroyed. However, recent Russian use of chemical weapons in the United Kingdom and Syrian attacks against its civilian population have underlined concerns about the re-emergence of the use of chemical weapons.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The next ordinary meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is scheduled to take place on Monday, 22 May 2023 from 15.00 - 18.30hrs and on Tuesday, 23 May 2023 from 9.00 - 12.30 and 14.30 - 18.30 in Brussels (room SPINELLI 1G3).

The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE missions 2023:

• Armenia - 19-22 June 2023
  
• Romania and Moldova - 15-18 May 2023
  
• Djibouti and Somalia - 1-4 April 2023
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20-23 February 2023
  

SEDE missions 2022:

• SEDE mission to South Korea and Japan - 18-22 December 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Niger from 31 October - 3 November 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Mozambique from 18-22 September 2022
  
• SEDE mission to France from 19-21 July 2022
  
• SEDE mission to Iraq from 24-28 May 2022
• SEDE mission to Georgia from 10-14 April 2022

SEDE meetings' calendar 2023
EP calendar 2023
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP