An Italian will lead the EU Institute for Security Studies, Antonio Missiroli has been named the institute’s next director. He takes over the post from Álvaro de Vasconcelos, a Portuguese academic who had been director since 2007. The Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi is enthusiastic, who spoke of “a great result for Italy, which recognizes the commitment of our country to the debate on the future of European defense and testifies the strength and authority of our applications”. The head of the foreign ministry expressed “great satisfaction for a success achieved thanks to the contribution and work of our Permanent representation in Brussels and our Embassies in the various EU capitals”. The election of Missiroli, added Terzi “consolidate Italy’s high profile in all Union bodies to promote an effective and shared update of the European Security Strategy”.
Created in 2001, the institute, which is financed by the EU’s 27 member states, is an agency of the European Union. As a think tank it researches security issues of relevance for the EU, provides a forum for debate and offers analysis and forecasting to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. For Missiroli it is a return because he was a research fellow at the EUISS between March 2002 and July 2005. At the Institute, he dealt with enlargement and institutional aspects of Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and European security and defense policy (ESDP). Until now, he worked at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers of the European Commission, and previously was Director of Studies at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. He has lectured in several subjects at various universities (University of Bath, university of Trento, Boston University, and at the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University).
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, welcomed the decision of the board of the EUISS to appoint Dr Antonio Missiroli as its new Director on the basis of her own proposal. In the final round, Missiroli was preferred to a German academic, Markus Kaim of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and a Swede, Gustav Lindstrom, of the Geneva Center for Security Policy. “The Institute has an important role in generating forward-looking analyses regarding the main foreign policy challenges facing the European Union, and in promoting a common strategic culture across Europe. As an independent source of ideas and a place where Europeans can come together to discuss the key strategic challenges they face, the Institute has become a real asset for EU external relations”, Ashton said, and that added that she “looks forward to working closely with the Institute under the leadership of the new Director.”
Alfonso Bianchi ©Eunews.it
