ABSTRACT
In the 20 years since the end of the Cold War, the European Union (EU) has gradually emerged as an autonomous actor in the field of security, aiming to safeguard European security by improving global security: ‘A Secure Europe in a Better World’, as the 2003 European Security Strategy (ESS) has it. A key aspect of this development has been the emergence of a defence component through the EU’s European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), rebaptized the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) by the Lisbon Treaty. The EU’s development as a security actor has certainly not remained uncontested, neither by academics, some of whom deny the EU the capacity to be an effective global actor, nor by policy-makers, some of whom see the rise of the EU as a threat to their national and/or transatlantic policy outlook. Yet regardless of one’s normative perspective on this emerging international role for the EU, its development can definitely not be denied: in spite of all its imperfections, the EU presence as a security actor is here – and the trend is that it is here to stay.
