Senior Policy Fellow
International relations; international security policy; European security and defence policy; military capabilities development; defence equipment cooperation; research and industry; Middle East and North Africa; the Middle East Peace Process
English, French, Arabic
Nick Witney is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His topics of focus range from the European Security and Defence Policy to the Middle East Peace Process.
Witney previously served as the first chief executive of the European Defence Agency in Brussels. High Representative Javier Solana chose him in January 2004 to lead the project team charged with developing the concept and blueprint for the agency. The European Council approved the team’s proposals in July 2004, an achievement recognised by European Voice in nominating Witney as one of its 50 “Europeans of the Year”. After that, he was appointed to establish and run the agency for its first three years.
Witney’s early career, after reading Classics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was spent in British government service, first with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and later with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). As a diplomat, he learned Arabic in Lebanon and Jordan, served in Baghdad, and spent four years as private secretary to the British ambassador in Washington, D.C.
Working with the MOD, Witney took on a wide range of responsibilities, including planning and finance, defence exports (the al-Yamamah programme with Saudi Arabia), nuclear policy, the defence estate (running the privatisation of the MOD’s married quarters housing stock), the new Labour government’s 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the forward Equipment Programme, and defence industrial policy. His last job before leaving for Brussels was as the MOD’s director-general of International Security Policy, where he was responsible for NATO and EU policy as well as missile defence.
The outcome of the uprisings in North Africa is still in the balance and although it will be mainly up to the North Africans themselves to decide their future, Europe has a key role to play on the side of reform – especially Paris, Rome and Madrid.
North Africa should be a top strategic priority for Europe
Against the backdrop of Egypt's presidential elections, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) staged a coup d’etat. For Europe, this counter-revolution constitutes a test of whether we have truly learned the lessons of the Arab uprisings.
The European decision to tighten sanctions against Iran is correct. Careful, balanced and measured pressure on Tehran is necessary as we face a particularly dangerous year for relations with the Iranian regime.
Building sustainable EU military power at a time of defence cuts
In a response to an article by Jan Techau attacking Common Security and Defence Policy, Nick Witney argues that Europe can and must take on more shared responsibility for its own security in the multipolar 21st century.
Robert Gates has rightly earned the admiration of many in the security community. But his recent criticism of European contributions to NATO fail to come to terms with changes in how European nations conceive of their own security and the role NATO has to play in defending it.
How Europe can help Egypt’s move towards democracy
It is time to get real about Libya. All the huffing and puffing of Western leaders has yet to bring Gaddafi’s house crashing down. Instead, European leaders must think about what realistic outcomes they might be able to help achieve.
Tunisians need European help to turn their revolution into a democracy
The UK government’s vision for Global Britain does not reflect today’s geostrategic realities. Yet the UK can forge an effective foreign policy if it focuses on British strengths, avoids military adventures in distant lands, and finds balanced, effective working relationships with the EU and the US.
To hedge against US disengagement without precipitating it, Europeans should converge on “taking a greater share of the burden of defending Europe”
The context Now is not the moment for either the European Union or the United Kingdom to risk allowing the political tensions around Brexit to…
A British exit from the EU would make it harder to fight crime and terrorism, reduce Britain’s ability to lead and influence its partners, and weaken NATO
The sixth ECFR Foreign Policy Scorecard highlights the EU’s diminishing ability to influence its neighbours, and the neighbourhood’s growing impact on the EU
Following France’s call for European solidarity under Article 42.7, European states should rekindle defence cooperation and aid France’s deployments in Africa
British exit from the EU would have serious foreign policy consequences – both for Britain and for the rest of Europe
The EU needs an honest assessment of its capabilities and to set limited goals behind which member states can show sustainable unity
Europe’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) needs drastic reform to deal with a region characterised by conflict, counter-revolution, and extremism
The EU’s habit of outsourcing its military interventions is problematic for a multitude of reasons
With the possibility of a second Trump presidency looming, it is high time to Europeanise NATO’s defence plans
There are three steps EU leaders must urgently take to prepare themselves for the enlargement process – starting by suspending Hungary’s voting rights
A new UK Labour government should move quickly to agree fresh ambitions with EU partners on defence industry collaboration and consolidation
Europeans should look to the success of the automotive sector for inspiration on uniting their defence efforts across the whole continent
Rishi Sunak has reintroduced sensible pragmatism to British foreign policy – but the nature of today’s Tory party means he is not out of the woods yet
As Britain reels from its latest political fiasco, the conspiracy of silence on Brexit is finally over
The new British prime minister is on a collision course with reality – and leaders across Europe may not even bank on her remaining in Downing Street for long
The Johnson era is ending as it began – in farce. Brexit will not be reversed, but there is now a realistic chance that Britain will begin to repair its relationship with the EU.
The shock of the Ukraine war, rising national defence budgets, and a European Commission in the driving seat could finally bring about true European defence integration and consolidation
A prime minister looking for escape from the latest political hole he is in has spotted one way out – stoking tensions with the EU at Northern Ireland’s expense
Europeans remain unwilling to renew their thinking on nuclear deterrence, despite growing strategic instability. Their stated goal of “strategic autonomy” will remain an empty phrase until they engage seriously on this matter
In this seventh episode of our mini-series , Mark Leonard and Susi Dennison talk to Nick Witney and Camille Grand about the potential for a great reset in UK-EU relations, especially regarding cooperation on defence
Mark Leonard is joined by Nick Witney, Jana Puglierin, and Tara Varma, to evaluate the outcomes of the NATO Summit in Madrid, especially regarding European defence
What are the biggest challenges in building greater European sovereignty in defence? And how will this effort be funded?
Mark Leonard launches ECFR’s special summer series on European sovereignty with a discussion of the continent’s security and defence policy. He is joined by Nick…
Mark Leonard speaks with Tomas Valasek and Nick Witney about what the real military dependence of Europeans on America looks like and what is possible…
Mark Leonard talks to the all star cast of Nick Whitney, Ulrike Franke and Jeremy Shapiro on the topic of European strategic culture
ECFR Policy Fellow Ulrike Franke speaks with Mark Leonard, former MP Douglas Alexander, and ECFR’s Senior Policy Fellow Nick Witney, about Britain’s future vision of…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard discusses the launch of PESCO, the latest collective European defence initiative with ECFR Senior Policy Fellow Nick Witney and Policy Fellow,…
Nouveau podcast de notre série sur les présidentielles de 2017 ayant pour objectif de traiter les thèmes d'actualité et de contribuer au débat dans la perspective…
Mark Leonard speaks with former Director of the European Defence Agency Nick Witney, Manuel Lafont Rapnouil and Ulrike Esther Franke about European defence in the…
Nick Witney comments on European nations undermining the EU’s defence industrial strategy by buying from American defence contractors
And then you really have to wonder what the US nuclear guarantee is worth
Nick Witney comments on the potential threat of nuclear weapons
Nick Witney on British and US air strikes in Yemen
In this interview, Nick Witney talks about the possibility of triggering Article 7 against Hungary
A lot of the time, it’s really an issue of protectionism, vested interest, and inertia
Nick Witney explains why Europeans struggle to pool defence-industrial production
