Summary: The ESDC is an European External Action Service (EEAS) based network training college.
At stake: Output is geared towards EEAS activities and ambitions. Affiliation risks duplication of effort with non-EU counterparts, while acclimatising networked civil servants, academics, and the third sector to EU integrationist
modi operandi (ie defaulting to the EU institutionally as an automatic partner of choice). It has its own ‘alumni association’.
What they say: “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” – First objective (of eleven)
Exposure: The UK defence Academy (Shrivenham) and the University of Nottingham are currently partners.
Action: MPs should ensure that cooperation should only take place on TTPs for emergency relief work, avoiding duplication with work done by UN agencies, and avoiding the development of EEAS doctrine especially in security elements.
Deep dive: https://esdc.europa.eu/
