The Lisbon Treaty and ESDP: transformation and integration

In the few years since its inception following the 1998 Franco-British Saint-Malo Summit, the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) has progressed enormously, certainly when compared with the preceding fifty years. A whole
new politico-military dimension has been added to the EU. ESDP is not just a paper exercise, as a dozen ongoing operations involving more than 8,000 troops and 500 civilians demonstrate. If other operations in which EU Member States participate are counted as well (national, NATO, UN and ad hoc coalitions) the number of Member States’ armed forces that is constantly deployed stands at 70 to 80,000. (From the introduction)