https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8745-8190
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ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) has run numerous missions under its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Researchers have long highlighted various challenges, which ultimately hamper the EU’s ability to conduct crisis management operations abroad. However, only rarely are those at the forefront of CSDP given a voice. Building on recent contributions that focus on the everyday implementation of peace operations and drawing on an extensive set of in-depth interviews with European police officers, we examine mission members’ perspectives on challenges regularly discussed at headquarter levels. We show how seemingly mundane challenges, such as tight control imposed on missions by Brussels-based institutions, an extensive mission-internal bureaucracy and a rigid adherence to administrative logics, can significantly hamper missions’ everyday operation on the ground. We also highlight that staffing CSDP missions is more complex than simply meeting quantitative targets and the difficulties that arise for missions’ day-to-day operation when officers lack necessary skills and mission personnel rotates frequently. In addition, we also offer a glimpse into the ways in which police officers cope with these challenges.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 We thank Fabian de Hair and Fynn Mantey for excellent research assistance and our interviewees for sharing their insights.
2 Interviewees were from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, France, Norway, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Ireland. One was from the UK.
3 Interviewees primarily drew on experience with EULEX Kosovo, EUAM Ukraine, EUCAP Sahel Mali, EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Somalia and EUAM Iraq as their most recent deployments. They further drew on previous experience with additional EU missions such as EUPOL Afghanistan or EUPOL COPPS.
4 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 15.03.2021, online.
5 Interview, female German police officer, 30.09.2020, online.
6 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
7 Interview, male Danish police officer, 09.07.2020, online.
8 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
9 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 12.03.2021, online.
10 Interview, male Danish police officer, 14.10.2019, Lviv.
11 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.10.2019, Kyiv (A).
12 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.10.2019, Kyiv (A).
13 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 10.10.2019, Kyiv.
14 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
15 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 09.02.2021, online.
16 Interview, male French police officer, 13.10.2020, online.
17 Interview, male German police officer, 18.09.2020, online.
18 Interview, male German police officer, 18.09.2020, online.
19 Interview, female German police officer, 30.09.2020, online.
20 Interview, male Danish police officer, 14.10.2019, Lviv.
21 Interviews, 30.09.2020, online; 10.10.2019, Odessa.
22 Interview, female German police officer, 14.09.2020, Germany.
23 Interview, male French police officer, 13.10.2020, online.
24 Interview, female German police officer, 14.09.2020, Germany.
25 Interviews, 06.08.2019, Germany; 09.10.2019, Kyiv (B); 09.10.2019, Odessa; 09.02.2021, online; 19.02.2021, online; 30.03.2021, online.
26 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
27 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
28 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
29 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
30 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
31 Interviews, 20.08.2020, online; 28.09.2020, online; 11.03.2021, online (C).
32 Interview, male German police officer, 26.08.2020, online.
33 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 09.02.2021, online.
34 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 09.02.2021, online.
35 Interview, male Danish police officer, 17.07.2020, online.
36 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 12.02.2021, online.
37 Interview, female German police officer, 30.09.2020, online.
38 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
39 Interview, male German police officer, 30.09.2019, Pristina.
40 Interview, male German police officer, 19.11.2020, Germany.
41 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
42 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
43 Interview, male Dutch police officer, 13.10.2020, online.
44 Interview, female German police officer, 14.09.2020, Germany.
45 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.09.2019, Pristina.
46 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
47 Interview, male British police officer, May 2019, Kyiv.
48 Interview, female German police officer, 14.09.2020, Germany.
49 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
50 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
51 Interview, male German police officer, 06.08.2019, Germany.
52 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.09.2019, Pristina.
53 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.03.2021, online.
54 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.10.2019, Kyiv (A).
55 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.09.2019, Pristina.
56 Interview, male Danish police officer, 14.10.2019, Lviv.
57 Interview, male French police officer, 25.11.2020, online.
58 Interview, male Portuguese Gendarme, 02.02.2021, online.
59 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.10.2019, Kyiv (A).
60 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
61 Interview, male French police officer, 25.11.2020, online.
62 Interviews, 30.09.2019, Pristina; 09.10.2019, Kyiv (A); 09.10.2019, Kyiv (B); 10.10.2019, Kyiv; 15.10.2019, Lviv; 30.03.2021, online.
63 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
64 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 10.10.2019, Kyiv.
65 Interview, female Swedish police officer, 09.10.2019, Kyiv (B), see also Interview, 14.09.2020, Germany.
66 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 30.03.2021, online.
67 Interviews, 12.02.2021, online; 19.02.2021, online; 09.03.2021, online; 11.03.2021, online (A); 15.03.2021, online; 30.03.2021, online.
68 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 19.02.2021, online.
69 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 11.03.2021, online (A).
70 Interview, male Swedish police officer, 09.02.2021, online.