Common Security and Defence Policy
Defence policy of the European Union
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The CSDP involves the deployment of military or civilian missions to preserve peace, prevent conflict and strengthen international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter. Military missions are carried out by EU forces established with secondments from the member states' armed forces. The CSDP also entails collective self-defence amongst member states as well as a Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in which 26 of the 27 national armed forces pursue structural integration (the exception being Malta). The CSDP structure – headed by the Union's High Representative (HR/VP), Kaja Kallas, and sometimes referred to as the European Defence Union (EDU) in relation to its prospective development as the EU's defence arm – comprises:
the European Commission's Defence Industry Directorate-General
the External Action Service's (EEAS) Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) and permanent Operation Headquarters (OHQs) for command and control (C2) at the military/civilian strategic level, i.e. the MPCC and CPCC.
a number of Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) preparatory bodies – such as the Military Committee (EUMC)
four agencies, including the Defence Agency (EDA).
The EU command and control structures are much smaller than the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Command Structure (NCS), which has been established for territorial defence. It has been agreed that NATO's Allied Command Operations (ACO) may be used for the conduct of the EU's missions. The MPCC, established in 2017 and to be strengthened in 2020, is the EU's first permanent military OHQ. In parallel, the European Defence Fund (EDF, established in 2017) marks the first time the EU budget is used to finance multinational defence projects.
Decisions relating to the CSDP are proposed by the High Representative, adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council, generally requiring unanimity, to be then implemented by the High Representative.
The public source identifies “Common Security and Defence Policy” as defence policy of the European Union. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Common, Security and Defence.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q511733. VIAF identifies the subject as 267321092. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017 and 2020.
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This entry incorporates text from “Common Security and Defence Policy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.