External State Partners in ESDP Missions: Third Country Participation in EU Crisis Management

The article intends to identify the motives, benefits, and patterns of third state contributions to EU security management endeavours in crisis areas. After the definition of the classes of potential partners and the conceivable legal frameworks for their participation, the investigation turns to European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) missions as examples of variable coalitions with their temporary structures in the course of operational multilateralism of EU crisis management. A brief overview of the practice emerged in the first decade of ESDP ensues to illustrate the general analyses. The assessment of the relevance of third country participation in EU conflict prevention or conflict response undertakings brings the examination to conclusion.