ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the European Union (EU) has evolved into a security provider, having performed military operations and civilian missions in many parts of the world in addition to creating security strategies and policy initiatives. It looks at the EU and its role in security, specifically focused on the Common Security and Defence Policy. The chapter looks at how the EU as a security and defence actor has been conceptualised. In order to understand the EU as a security actor we must have an idea as to what the EU looks like in terms of power projection, which interconnects with the strategy that the EU is able and willing to pursue. The EU’s role in defence and security is a recent ‘competence’, in the language of the EU treaties. The EU Battlegroup concept was a UK–French idea that was formally launched as a UK, French and German initiative in 2004.
