As a significant global economic player, the EU has increasingly become self-conscious in areas of foreign and security policy. Recent experience has made clear that if the EU is to have a truly effective common policy on foreign and security policy, it must have the capacity to take more responsibility for regional security. For the EU to play such a role, its ability to manage and project military force will need to be significantly enhanced, particularly in terms of its institutions and military capability. For the same reason the EU made a strong commitment to developing an effective EU led crisis management capacity. Subsequently the EU agreed that the EU must be in a position to deploy the European Rapid Reaction Force - capable of a full range of tasks including: humanitarian and rescue missions, peacekeeping, combat force tasks in crisis management and peacemaking missions. According to the EU however the initiative should not be seen as a duplication of NATO. Neither should the establishment of a European Force be confused with the concept of a European army.
The book explores whether a military crisis management system is practical and realistic and how the planned initiatives are to be transformed into operative policy. The author presents policy recommendation on the development of a military CESDP dimension, and the exploration of ways and means of making it a reality.