In the wake of the conflict in the Western Balkans in the 1990s, the EU and its Member States decided that the EU should be able to plan and conduct its own missions and operations. Steps were taken to set up the necessary decision-making bodies, planning structures and command and control arrangements.

In 2003, the first EU missions launched were the EU’s policing mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a military operation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Since then, the EU has launched and run 34 operations and missions on three continents. Of these 22 were civilian and 11 were military, and one – in Darfur – mixed. As of today, there are 16 ongoing CSDP operations, 10 civilian and six military.

Throughout these years the EU has continuously enhanced its structures, mechanisms and tools to promote stability and security in our wider neighbourhood as well as to increase European security. Although not deployed so far, the EU Battle Groups offer a further instrument which allows the EU and its Member States to independently and rapidly respond to emerging conflicts and crises.

In addition to diplomacy and development assistance, defence and security measures have hence become key elements of the EU response to crises in the immediate neighbourhood and beyond as well as to the global challenges, all of which directly affect also the EU´s own security.

• Decision making: Decisions to establish and to launch missions and operations require the approval of all Member States through a Council Decision. The planning process is governed by crisis management procedures.
• Force Generation: The majority of assets and personnel required for military operations as well as civilian missions are provided by Member States.
• Command and Control Structures: During the conduct phase, the Political and Security Committee (where all Member States are represented) exercises political control and provides strategic direction of both civilian and military crisis management missions and operations, under the authority of the Council and the High Representative.  Each mission and operation has a single and identifiable chain of command for its safe and efficient conduct:
  • For military operations with an executive mandate (e.g. EUNAVFOR MED Sophia in the South Central Mediterranean), an operational headquarters is usually provided by a Member State acting as a framework nation.
  • Alternatively, the EU can also take recourse to NATO command structures under the Berlin-Plus agreements (e.g. EUFOR Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina) or activate the EU Operations Centre.
  • The Military training missions in Mali, Somalia and Central African Republic are since June 2017 put under one command located within the Military Staff of the EEAS in Brussels – the Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), ensuring a better coordination and cooperation between military and civilian actors.
  • All civilian missions are commanded by the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) of the EEAS.
• Financing Mechanism: Civilian mission are financed through the CFSP budget. The common costs of military operations cannot be funded by the EU budget and are instead covered by Member States through the so-called Athena mechanism.