Development policy - a core element of European security policy

The Security Strategy adopted by the European Council in late 2003 underlines the importance of conflict prevention and civil, but also – wherever necessary – military intervention in weak or failing states. The new Security Strategy recommends that foreign and security policy be more closely dovetailed with development policy. In view of the fact that development cooperation (DC) is in possession of specific operational experiences in cooperation with weak states, development policy would be called upon to assume a proactive stance toward the European Security Strategy. Development policy's aim of providing significant contributions to Europe's new security policy calls implicitly for huge efforts in personnel, conceptual, and financial terms. This in turn must be predicated on new forms of the division of labor between bilateral, European, and multilateral development policy. At the same time, additional financial investments are needed to come effectively to grips with the new challenges.