About the Initiative

The European initiative for the exchange of young officers inspired by Erasmus, often referred to as "military Erasmus" in the media, is an initiative undertaken by the European Union Member States aimed at developing the exchanges between armed forces of future military officers as well as their teachers and instructors during their initial education and training. Due to the fact that the initiative is implemented by the Member States on a purely voluntary basis, their autonomy with regard to military training is not compromised.

The implementation of the initiative is driven by the key idea that exchanges of young officers during their initial training form the cornerstones for the emergence, in the longer run, of the increased interoperability and common culture that are needed for European security and defence. An Implementation Group was created in February 2009 as a task-oriented configuration of the European Security and Defence College’s Executive Academic Board.

Relying on contributions and support from the Member States, their institutes and the European Security and Defence College's Secretariat, the Implementation Group very quickly made substantial progress on various aspects of the initiative.