On July 30 the European Union started its second largest military operation so far. However, for the EU, interventions abroad for security and peace are nothing new. The EU is involved in security interventions on three continents and in 11 missions. In parallel, the project of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is being advanced by the member states with battlegroups, a European gendarmerie, and the Defence Agency.

However, the more the EU extends its security policy engagement the more diffuse ESDP ’s political and strategic profile seems to be. In fact, at the end of 2003 the member states adopted the EU ’s first common security strategy, but even this document leaves a number of crucial issues unanswered, above all what EU military intervention would involve. A political and societal debate concerning what European Security and Defence Policy wishes to achieve, as well as its limitations and requirements, is urgent.

The central question is the following: Is ESDP under the conditions of the twenty-first century defined primarily as a defense or as a political project? A juxtaposition of the concepts »offensive (self-) defense« and »human security« illustrates the conceptual and strategic alternatives facing Europe in security policy.