Abstract. The article considers whether the EU’s CSDP
missions are a suitable crisis management mechanism
for post-conflict situations, along with the EU’s relevance in crisis management at all. For this purpose, the
EU’s biggest CSDP civilian mission EULEX was chosen
as a research case study. The research results reveal that
EULEX has not implemented its mandate, not met the
expectations of security consumers, not made any difference on the ground, and cannot be seen as an example the EU should rely on in its future missions. Further,
EULEX shows that CSDP missions suffer from many
shortfalls and the EU CFSP from a capability–expectations gap. The article concludes that the EULEX mission
does not show the EU’s relevance in the crisis management of post-conflict situations.
Failing forward in the EU's common security and defense policy: the integration of EU crisis management
