Looking East and South : promoting security sector reform in the EU’s neighbourhood

Abstract

Over recent years, the European Union (EU) has been showing growing interest in the promotion of security sector reform (SSR) in countries in its neighbourhood and beyond. While the EU still lacks an overall strategy or concept in this area, a number of EU policies and important policy documents adopted testify to the increasing importance of SSR as an EU foreign policy tool. The EU security strategy of December 2003 mentions SSR, and institution-building more generally, as one possible focus of ESDP operations. 2 In 2005, the EU Council adopted a concept on the integration of SSR in ESDP missions, which is the first official EU document outlining a definition of SSR and its potential relevance for ESDP operations. 3 Finally, in May 2006, the Commission issued a key document establishing general principles for EC support to SSR in a number of policy areas, such as development cooperation, enlargement, conflict prevention, or democracy and human rights promotion. 4 Taken together, these documents could provide the basis for a comprehensive future EU strategy on SSR