Enhancing resilience in Ukraine through civilian CSDP: ZIF at SIPRI’s Stockholm Forum

At this year’s Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, hosted by SIPRI, leaders from the two fields came together to discuss “Solutions for Turbulent Times”. ZIF was represented by our Executive Director Dr. Astrid Irrgang. In the session “Contributing to resilience in Ukraine: What role for civilian CSDP?”, she discussed the importance of local ownership and the adaptation of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine both from the practical perspective of a secondment agency, and from the strategic level of the upcoming review of the mission. Other panelists were Kirsi Henriksson (Director, CMC Finland), Gil Rostain (Head of Division, Integrated Strategic Planning for CSDP and Stabilisation, EEAS); Artsi Alanne (Head of EU Home Affairs Funds Area of Responsibility, Ministry of Interior FIN) and Jan Roede (Head of Platform Joint Initiative to support Forensic Investigations of International Crimes (JIFIIC), Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Key takeaways include the importance of civilian CSDP to support long-term reforms on Ukraine’s civilian security sector and the need to cooperate for international organizations to cooperate with seconding agencies even closer to enable quick and most successful civilian support.

At the margins of the Forum, Astrid Irrgang also met with the German Ambassador to Sweden, Dr. Bertele and discussed a possible cooperation at next year’s Forum.