The Future of Common European Foreign and Security Policy - Perspectives of the German EU-Presidency

On the first of January 2007, the German government will take over the presidency of the Council in the European Union. The German presidency will have to rekindle the EU’s ambitions for a more streamlined Common European Foreign and Security Policy which seem to have put on ice together with the European Constitution. Crucial tasks like increasing security and stability in the Western Balkans and in the Middle East will feature prominently in the next months. Germany has already committed itself to stabilizing the situation in Lebanon to and to seek options to bring the Middle East conflict to a comprehensive and peaceful solution. The German government has also declared its ambitions to develop a new EU "Ostpolitik" which includes promoting stability and democracy in the neighbourhood, revitalising Europe's relations with Russia and the elaboration of a Central Asia strategy. How realistic are the ambitions of the German presidency in the field of CFSP, are they focusing on the right problems and at what does the German presidency have to achieve to be considered successful? <p> <b>Speaker:</b><br> Brigadier General Gerhard <b> Kemmler</b>, Head of Military Unit, Political Department, Permanent Representation of Germany at the European Union <br> <b>Discussants:</b><br> Prof.Dr. Sven <b>Biscop</b>, Senior Researcher, Royal Institute for International Relations (IRRI-KIIB), and Professor of European Security, University of Gent, Belgium <br> Eva <b>Gross</b>, Visiting Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) <br> <b>Chair:</b><br> Claude <b>Weinber</b>, Director EU Regional Office Heinrich Böll Foundation