Security

A central innovation of the Lisbon Treaty was the establishment of a European External Action Service (EEAS), designed to help the high representative develop a coherent and common foreign and security policy for the EU. In July 2013 High Representative Catherine Ashton presented the first review of the service. At the DGAP, Gerhard Sabathil of EEAS and Rosa Balfour of the European Policy Centre presented the review’s main points and discussed the service’s future challenges and opportunities.

Civil war has been tearing Syria apart for more than two years, and a way out is still not in sight. The precarious humanitarian situation, the high number of refugees, and the chemical weapons attack in June all cry out for a response on the part of the international community. Josef Janning, Henning Riecke, and Eberhard Sandschneider joined members of the DGAP for a fireside conversation about the international community’s response to the conflict and the role the West should play in it.