The Commission is contributing to that discussion and to the broader EU-wide debate on defence, by setting out three possible scenarios for the future of European defence.

30. Expresses its surprise that there is still no common EU strategy to tackle new challenges to EU security; welcomes the Council’s intention and the commitment by the VP/HR to initiate a process of strategic reflection on the challenges and opportunities for the foreign and security policy; recalls that this process aims at developing a new common European security strategy to determine the new geostrategic scenarios, threats and global challenges that have emerged, and at defining the actions that the EU may take in response thereto, notably in the framework of the CFSP and CSDP; calls, furthermore, on the VP/HR to initiate a wide- ...[+++]reaching process to develop an even more ambitious white paper on European security and defence in order to streamline the EU’s strategic ambitions and capability development processes; awaits the forthcoming communication by the VP/HR intended to assess the impacts of changes on the global environment and identify resulting challenges and opportunities for the EU;

It also considers that the civilian and military crisis-management tools developed in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) could be used in pre-crisis scenarios.

Scenario A is compliant with all objectives identified, including space exploration and significant security/defence related space developments.

However, European defence policy is subject to agreement on a strategic concept. And in my view, this is not about setting headline goals and outlining vague scenarios.

It also considers that the civilian and military crisis-management tools developed in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) could be used in pre-crisis scenarios.