A European Security and Defence College (‘ESDC’) is hereby established.
Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/2382 of 21 December 2016 establishing a European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and repealing Decision 2013/189/CFSP
Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/2382 of 21 December 2016 establishing a European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and repealing Decision 2013/189/CFSP
CHAPTER I ESTABLISHMENT, MISSION, OBJECTIVES AND TASKS
Article 1 Establishment
Article 2 Mission
The ESDC shall provide training and education in the field of the Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in the wider context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) at European level in order to develop and promote a common understanding of CSDP and CFSP among civilian and military personnel, and to identify and disseminate best practice in relation to various CSDP and CFSP issues through its training and education activities (‘ESDC training and education activities’).
Article 3 Objectives
The ESDC shall have the following objectives:
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to further enhance the common European security and defence culture within the Union and to promote the principles laid down in Article 21(1) TEU outside the Union;
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to promote a better understanding of CSDP as an essential part of CFSP;
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to provide Union instances with knowledgeable personnel able to work efficiently on all CSDP and CFSP matters;
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to provide Member States' administrations and staff with knowledgeable personnel familiar with Union policies, institutions and procedures in the field of CSDP and CFSP;
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to provide CSDP Missions' and Operations' personnel with a common understanding of CSDP Missions' and Operations' functioning principles and a sense of common European identity;
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to provide training and education responding to training and educational needs of CSDP Missions and Operations;
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to support Union partnerships in the field of CSDP and CFSP in particular partnerships with those countries participating in CSDP missions;
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to support civilian crisis management including in the field of conflict prevention, and establishing or preserving the conditions necessary for sustainable development;
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to promote the European Initiative for the Exchange of Young Officers;
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to help promote professional relations and contacts among the participants in the training and education activities;
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to provide Member States' and Union administrations with knowledgeable personnel familiar with Union policies, institutions, procedures and best practices in the field of cyber security and defence.
Where appropriate, attention shall be paid to ensuring consistency with other activities of the Union.
Article 4 Tasks of the ESDC
1.
The main tasks of the ESDC shall be, in accordance with its mission and objectives, to organise and conduct ESDC training and education activities in the field of the CSDP and CFSP.
2.
The ESDC training and education activities shall include:
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basic and advanced level courses promoting generic understanding of CSDP and CFSP;
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courses developing leadership;
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courses directly supporting CSDP Missions and Operations, including pre-deployment and in-mission or in-operation training and education;
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courses supporting EU partnerships and countries participating in CSDP Missions and Operations;
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modules supporting civilian and military training and education in the field of CSDP and CFSP;
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CSDP and CFSP courses, seminars, programmes and conferences for specialised audiences or with specific focus;
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common modules run under the European Initiative for the Exchange of Young Officers, inspired by the Erasmus Programme;
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cyber awareness and advanced level courses, including in support of CSDP missions and operations.
Although formally not ESDC training and education activities, the ESDC shall also support and promote European semesters and joint masters degrees making use of the common modules referred to in the first subparagraph.
Other training and education activities shall be undertaken, as decided by the Steering Committee referred to in Article 9 (‘the Steering Committee’).
3.
In addition to the activities referred to in paragraph 2, the ESDC shall, in particular:
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support the relations to be established between the institutes referred to in Article 5(1) engaged in the network referred to in that paragraph (‘the network’);
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run and further develop an e-Learning system to support CSDP and CFSP training and education activities or, in exceptional circumstances, to be used as stand-alone training and education activities;
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develop and produce training and educational material in the field of CSDP and CFSP also drawing on already existing relevant material;
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support an Alumni Association between former training participants;
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support exchange programmes in the field of CSDP and CFSP between the Member States' training and educational institutes;
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act as compartment administrator of the Schoolmaster module of the Goalkeeper project and provide contributions to the annual Union Training Programme in CSDP through this module;
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provide support to the management of training and education in the field of conflict prevention, civilian crisis management, establishing or preserving the conditions necessary for sustainable development and Security Sector Reform initiatives, as well as promotion of cyber security and hybrid threats' awareness;
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organise and run an annual network conference bringing together civilian and military training and education experts in CSDP from Member States' training and educational institutes and ministries, and relevant external training and education actors as appropriate and;
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maintain relationships with relevant actors in the field of Freedom Security and Justice, in the field of Development and Cooperation, and with relevant International Organisations.