ABSTRACT
The EU has not remained idle, witness the long list of past and present opera tions. But an assessment of CSDP opera tions so far will dem on strate that Gray’s (2009: 15-16) strong argument for a clear strategy applies as much to the EU as to any other actor:
Defence planning needs to be based on polit ical guidance, and that guidance should make its as sump tions expli cit. Sometimes we neg lect this, and the oversight can prove costly. Conditions, which is to say con texts, can change, and so should the working as sump tions behind pol icy. You can forget what your as sump tions have been if you forgot to make them explicit.
