EU defence policy ‘needs reassessment’

Following a meeting of European Union Defence Ministers on 19 November 2001, officials said that the EU's security and defence policy (ESDP) should be reassessed after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, is preparing a report on the impact of 11 September which will be submitted to the European Council Summit in Laeken in December 2001. Despite serious shortfalls, defence ministers said that ESDP would be declared 'operational' at the Summit. Ministers also backed an action plan which would enable the rapid reaction force to be operational by mid-2003.