Poland’s internal security as exemplified by the tasks and activities of the Internal Security Agency in the period 2007–2015

The text analyses Poland's internal security illustrated with the example of the tasks and activities of one of the Polish special services, the Internal Security Agency (pol. Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego – ABW). Although the Internal Security Agency was established as a counter-intelligence service, the scope of its tasks and activities places it among the criminal intelligence services, which is poorly effective in terms of the eradication of crime targeted at the state's internal security. The analysis of the issues of state security in the context of the ISA's activity has been elaborated in the present text with the following research questions: (1) To what extent does the statutory scope of the ISA's tasks lower the effectiveness of the actions aimed at combating crime threatening state security? (2) To what extent does the structural pathology inside the ISA lower the effectiveness of the actions aimed at combating crime threatening state security? The text features an extensive analysis of three major issues: (1) the ISA's statutory tasks (with particular consideration of de lege lata and de lege ferenda regulations), (2) the dysfunctional character of the ISA's activity in relation to the scope of its statutory tasks, and (3) the structural pathology resulting from the 'politicisation' of the Internal Security Agency.

The EU’s re-engagement as a security actor: Fresh start or still sleepwalking. CEPS Commentary, 12 July 2012

By the end of the summer, the EU will launch new crisis management missions in the Horn of Africa, Niger and South Sudan. In this CEPS Commentary, Giovanni Faleg and Steven Blockmans question whether the new deployments will revive the EU’s persona as a global security actor. The authors point out that, without the backing of a comprehensive security strategy rationale, the EU’s re-engagement as a crisis manager that opts for small-scale operations will be seen as a continuation of its sleepwalking through a changing geostrategic landscape.

Two Boats in the Mediterranean and their Unfortunate Encounters with Europe’s Policies towards People on the Move. CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe No. 48, 20 July 2012

Two stark reminders of the difficulties that people on the move encounter in the Mediterranean have been grabbing headlines recently: the so-called ‘left-to-die’ boat report and the ground-breaking Hirsi judgment. These two instances present the worst of both worlds: the first concerns a migrant boat that was ignored altogether, resulting in many deaths, whereas the second concerns a migrant boat being intercepted but subsequently dealt with in a way that contradicts Europe’s human rights standards. These two cases are neither isolated nor incidental. Instead they are of wider concern to the EU and reminders of structural deficiencies in Europe’s approach to people on the move in the Mediterranean. This paper identifies those cross-cutting deficiencies and proposes recommendations to correct them.