Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The strategic compass is an exercise intended to provide enhanced political and strategic direction for the European Union’s security and defence policy for the next five to ten years. Once agreed by member states, this policy document will serve not only to outline the EU’s approach to the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, but also to reflect the increasingly complex security landscape faced by the EU, and believe me, it is complex. Ireland has always engaged constructively in the development of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, guided by our traditional policy of military neutrality and our contribution to crisis management and peacekeeping. For this reason, we are playing an active role in work to develop the strategic compass.

I have had the opportunity to discuss the strategic compass with EU foreign and defence ministers on a number of occasions, most recently at our informal meeting in Brest on 13 January. Following further engagement between all 27 member states over the coming months, it is expected the final document will be endorsed at the European Council in March. As it currently stands, the draft document as presented to member states by High Representative Borrell opens with an analysis of the strategic environment and the challenges facing the EU, before outlining proposals in the areas of crisis management, resilience, capability development and the EU's work with key partners.

Ireland welcomes the strategic compass as a means of setting out our shared strategic vision for CSDP and of enhancing the EU's role as a security provider and in contributing to international peace and security. In our view, the strategic compass also offers an important opportunity for the EU to project the core values that underpin our approach to CSDP, including our commitment to effective multilateralism and the rules-based international order. In this regard, the exercise offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen the EU's co-operation with the United Nations, including in the areas of peacekeeping and crisis management.

See this speech in context