Even if the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) seems for many observers a well-established field of activity of the European Union, it must not be overlooked that it is still a young and on many aspects quite unpractised endeavour of the EU. Only in 2003 – after a four-year period of institution building, strategic considerations and civil/military capability development – ESDP became officially operational, and started
in Bosnia and Herzegovina its first field mission.

Today, only six years later, the EU has already completed 11 ESDP missions:

• five in Africa (Artemis, EUFOR and EUPOL Kinshasa in DRC, EUFOR in
  Tchad/RCA, EU Support to AMIS/AMISOM)
• four in the Western Balkans (Concordia, EUPOL Proxima, EUPAT in FYROM and EUPT Kosovo)
• one in Caucasus (EUJUST THEMIS in Georgia) and
• one in Asia (AMM in Aceh/Indonesia).

The ongoing missions in the framework of ESDP are diversified to the following regions:

• three in the Western Balkans (EUPM and ALTHEA in BiH, EULEX Kosovo)
• one border mission in Moldova/Ukraine
• three in the Middle East (EUPOL COPPS in Palestine, EUJUST LEX in Iraq, EUBAM Rafah)
• one in Central Asia (EUPOL Afghanistan)
• one in Caucasus (EUMM Georgia)
• four in Africa (EUSEC RD Congo and EUPOL RD Congo in DRC, EU SSR in Guinea-Bissau, ATALANTA/EU NAVFOR off the Somali coast).

The two authors evaluate the performance of ESDP missions: while noting that there was still a growing demand for ESDP operations between 2003 and 2009, and that the trends of globalisation of the operational area and broadening of tasks had continued, the authors found reasons to make a cautious assessment of ESDP developments and potential. with the lack of coherent policy being the main weakness.

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