The Coordinated Maritime Presences concept and the EU’s naval ambitions in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

Since the launch of the first-ever EU naval operation in 2008, the ongoing Operation Atalanta off the Horn of Africa, EU naval forces have operated primarily in Europe’s vicinity or in regions in which great-power tensions have been low. Yet, the Union has also begun to seek a naval role for itself in more sensitive regions, namely the Indo-Pacific, via the new Coordinated Maritime Presences concept. This article analyses the EU’s plans to play a more visible naval role in the Indo-Pacific, and argues that the extension of this concept to the region would raise the EU’s level of ambition as a naval actor. However, the EU’s ability to be a meaningful maritime security provider in the Indo-Pacific depends on the EU countries coming closer to seeing eye-to-eye on how the Union should approach China, and on their willingness to send vessels to the Indo-Pacific.