Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NATO (1995–1999), he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary-General of the Western European Union and held these posts from October 1999 until December 2009.
Eduard Kukan served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia from 1998 to 2006. He was a candidate in the presidential election held on 3 April 2004, and although pre-election polls had suggested he would come in first, he actually came in third behind former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar and Ivan Gašparovič, thus preventing him from contesting the run-off. He was elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009, a position he held until 2019.
Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held by Josep Borrell.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the High Representative (HR/VP), and reports to the Council. The EDA was established on 12 July 2004 and is based in the Kortenberg building in Brussels, Belgium, along with a number of other CSDP bodies.
Stavros Lambrinidis is a Greek lawyer and politician who has served as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States since March 2019. He previously served as the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights from 2012 to 2019 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from June 2011 to November 2011.
The Political and Security Committee is a permanent body within the European Union dealing with Common Foreign and Security Policy issues, including Common Security and Defence Policy.
The Military Committee of the European Union (EUMC) is the body of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy that is composed of member states' Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). These national CHODs are regularly represented in the EUMC in Brussels by their permanent Military Representatives (MilRep), who often are two- or three-star flag officers.
Koen Vervaeke is a Belgian diplomat, since December 2015 Managing Director for Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS). He was previously the Director for Horn of Africa, East & Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, and the Senior EU Coordinator for the Great Lakes region. He also served in the past as Head of the European Union Delegation to the African Union in Addis Abeba, (Ethiopia).
The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union (EU). The EEAS is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), who is also President of the Foreign Affairs Council and Vice-President of the European Commission, and carries out the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
Samuel Žbogar is a Slovenian diplomat and politician who is the EU Special Representative in North Macedonia. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia from 2008 to 2012.
EUFOR Concordia was a European Union (EU) peacekeeping mission in the Republic of North Macedonia, which started on 31 March 2003. The EU took over from NATO's operation Allied Harmony and deployed around 300 troops to provide security to EU and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors overseeing the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, a peace settlement resolving the conflict between the government and country's ethnic Albanian community. It thus became the first ever military operation of the EU. While keeping EU's control over the entire chain of command the mission closely cooperated with NATO through transparency and regular consultations and its headquarters were at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons. France suggested fully autonomous EU operation but United Kingdom and Germany feared it will be perceived as antagonistic to NATO.
Poul Skytte Christoffersen is a Danish diplomat. He holds a degree in Economics. Christoffersen prepared the negotiations on EU enlargement to take in 10 central and eastern European countries in 2004, so that they could be concluded at the Copenhagen summit in December 2002. He was the Danish Ambassador to the European Union from 1995 -2003. He then was appointed ambassador to Italy. In 2009 he again became ambassador to the EU, a role which he gave up when becoming Special advisor to Baroness Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He is to help Ashton set up the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Sir Julian Beresford King is a British diplomat and civil servant who served as Ambassador to Ireland and France and Director General of the Northern Ireland Office. On 8 July 2016, he was nominated by David Cameron to succeed Jonathan Hill as the British European Commissioner. On 2 August 2016, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced his intention to allocate King the Security Union portfolio. After the approval of his nomination by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, he took office on 19 September 2016. With the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, he was the last British official to hold a position and portfolio within the European Commission.
The international reactions to the Bahraini uprising of 2011 include responses by supranational organisations, non-governmental organisations, media organisations, and both the governments and civil populaces, like of fellow sovereign states to the protests and uprising in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. The small island nation's territorial position in the Persian Gulf not only makes it a key contending regional power but also determines its geostrategic position as a buffer between the Arab World and Iran. Hence, the geostrategic implications aid in explaining international responses to the uprising in Bahrain. Accordingly, as a proxy state between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Bahrain's domestic politics is both wittingly and unavoidably shaped by regional forces and variables that determine the country's response to internal and external pressures.
Peter Ingemann Moesgaard Sørensen is a Danish diplomat, EU Ambassador to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva. He previously served as European Union Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Helga Maria Schmid is a German diplomat who has been serving as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since 2020. From 2016 until 2020, she was the Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
This article outlines the present structure of the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), a part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) based on articles 42–46 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). Article 42.2 of TEU states that the CSDP includes the 'progressive framing' of a common Union defence policy, and will lead to a common defence, when the European Council of national heads of state or government, acting unanimously, so decides.
