The Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) is a military collaboration consisting of the

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an states of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

has an observer status in this cooperative framework. The joint objective is enhancing the defence co-operation, including the pooling and sharing of defence capabilities of the member countries and organizing common training and exercises. Since the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

of 2015-2016 the cooperation has focused on handling mass migration too. The CEDC was created in 2010. All members are also members of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and all except Austria are in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The presidency rotates yearly. As of 2025, the presidency is held by Slovakia. The CEDC geo-political borders are more or less the same borders of the former

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, and its successors, the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. Territory of participating states is 381,682 km² while the territory of the Austrian Empire in 1804 was 698,700 km².

History

Formation of the group started in late 2010, the first meeting of defence ministers took place in June 2012 in Frauenkirchen, Austria. From March 31 to April 1, 2016, a conference of defense ministers from the CEDC member states as well as those from

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

took place in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The central theme was the

. Germany and Greece were also invited but did not participate. A joint initiative was taken to secure the external border, a continued closure of the Balkan route and the implementation of settlement measures of migrants who had arrived previously. On 19 June 2017 the six countries pledged in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

closer cooperation on tackling illegal migration including the use of

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

. Among the group's goals is that all migrants who want to apply for asylum in any EU country must do so from outside the bloc. Countries are working on the joint action plan, which will distribute tasks between member's armies, police forces and other organisations when common response is needed. In September 2017 the group organized a joint military exercise Cooperative Security 2017 (COOPSEC17) in Allentsteig, Austria focused on fortifying borders against mass migration.

References

External links

Djordjevic attends CEDC meeting

{{Authority control Intergovernmental organizations Foreign relations of Austria Foreign relations of Croatia Foreign relations of the Czech Republic Foreign relations of Hungary Foreign relations of Poland Foreign relations of Slovakia Foreign relations of Slovenia Central Europe Austria–Hungary relations Austria–Croatia relations Croatia–Czech Republic relations Czechoslovakia–Poland relations Czech Republic–Poland relations Czechoslovakia–Hungary relations Poland–Slovakia relations 2010 in Europe 21st-century military alliances European integration Central European intergovernmental organizations Military of Austria Military of Croatia Military of the Czech Republic Military of Hungary Military of Slovakia Military of Slovenia Bottom-up regional groups within the European Union

History

See also

References

External links