Can the EU rebuild failing states? A review of Europe’s civilian capacities.

Broken promises from EU members on crisis missions risk more fragile states collapsing into failed states, argue ECFR's security experts Daniel Korski and Richard Gowan

Broken promises and treating Afghanistan, DR Congo and Iraq like Bosnia has left the EU without the capacity to prevent fragile states from becoming failing states. This is the main finding of the latest report from the European Council on Foreign Relations, by ECFR's security experts Daniel Korski and Richard Gowan, published today.

According to the report, Can the EU rebuild failing states? A review of Europe's civilian capacities:

• EU member states break promises and significantly under-staff key international missions.
  No member state has deployed even half of what they promised in the 2004 Civilian Headline Goal process, and the EU has a shortage of 1,500 personnel across its 12 ongoing EU state building missions. All eyes are on Afghanistan: but the EU's police mission there is at half its authorised strength.
• Crisis missions still rely on the ‘Bosnia-template', ignoring reality on the ground.
  The 2005-2006 mission to DR Congo, for instance, was rendered largely irrelevant because EU planning failed to take into account corruption and the country's size compared to Bosnia.
• Turf wars between the European Commission and the European Council weaken missions.
  In practice, spheres of influence overlap, leading to squabbles over who is responsible for what. In 2004 this led to a case at the European Court of Justice over who should get involved in a project tackling weapons trafficking in West Africa.

Daniel Korski says:

"If Yemen descends into full blown civil-war or al Qaeda gains new bases in Africa, the EU will be ill-equipped to offer the strategic and development assistance likely to be needed. Getting EU crisis missions right is essential in a world where stability in faraway places is key to security on the streets of Hamburg, Marseille and Manchester."

For the full text of the report: http://ecfr.eu/page/-/documents/civilian-crisis-report.pdf

You can download the executive summary of this report in Bulgarian, Italian, Polish and Spanish. 

This report represents the views of its authors, not the collective view of ECFR

Press coverage on this report:

Soft power? Hard work ahead, by Daniel Korski. E!Sharp, 19 October 2009

Deutsche Welle, The EU is 'underperforming' in the world's conflict zones, 19 October 2009

La Razon, La irrelevancia de la UE en el exterior, 16 October 2009

Prospect, Europe's civilian failings, 16 October 2009

The Sofia Echo, Report criticises Europe's foreign aid policy, 16 October 2009

Voice of America, Report criticizes Europe's foreign aid policy, 16 October 2009

Dziennik, Misje pokojowe UE? "Są nieskuteczne", 16October 2009

AFP, EU security missions out-dates, hurt by red tape: Report, 15 October 2009

EurActiv, Deutschland im EU-Vergleich in der Spitzengruppe, 15 October 2009

BBC, EU peace support work 'failing', 15 October 2009

The Financial Times, EU 'underperforms' in trouble spot missions, 15 October 2009