From Wednesday to Thursday, April 20-21, the first working-level defence policy workshop of the Austrian chairmanship of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) 2022 took place. The workshop was held at the historic premises of the Austrian Military Academy Wiener Neustadt. In addition to representatives of CEDC member states, staff from the Military Diplomacy and Defence Policy & Strategy Department of the Federal Ministry of Defence also participated. Velina Tchakarova, Director of the Austrian Institute for European Security Policy (AIES), moderated the workshop.
Lessons learned and future challenges
The Central European Defence Cooperation is the largest Central European forum dealing with security and defence policy issues. The representatives of the defence ministries reviewed the projects and issues of the past years and drew new conclusions. In order for CEDC countries to continue to operate successfully in the future in line with their national priorities, responsibilities and interests, it is important to establish and maintain dialogue at the working level. In addition to current issues such as the war in Ukraine and the related impact on CEDC countries, long-standing issues such as cooperation and assistance with Western Balkan countries were also discussed.
