ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of specific barriers and opportunities which have the potential to impact on the ability of the European Union (EU) to forge a strategic approach to its security policy and practices. The regions were selected as areas where the EU can be said to have definable security interests, and in many cases active Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions, and so offered a good testing ground for evaluating the extent to which security policy actions are integrated into wider external policy actions. As Kartsonaki and Wolff argue, the EU increasingly has tried to structure its external policy actions through a differentiated set of regional strategies. Juncos notes the difference in approach to the Balkans, where the EU has probably come closest to defining its strategic end goals, and has matched its ambitions with policy resources, including CSDP ones, to the approach to the Eastern Neighbourhood.
