asked Her Majesty's Government:

What operations have taken place since 1998 under the European Union's common foreign and security policy and European security and defence policy involving the deployment of military or civil personnel outside the European Union's borders.

Nineteen operations have taken place under the EU's common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and European security and defence policy (ESDP) since 1998. Four of these have been military missions, in the Balkans and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Seven have focused on policing, again in the Balkans and the DRC, but also in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and, more recently, Afghanistan. There have been two rule of law missions in Georgia and Iraq, one security sector reform mission in the DRC, and supporting action to the African Union mission in Sudan. There has been participation in a monitoring mission to Aceh and two border assistance missions: one at the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt, the other between Moldova and Ukraine. Lastly, there has been a long-running Balkans-wide monitoring mission that transferred from CFSP to ESDP in 2000.

Two further missions are in differing stages of the planning process: a military mission to Chad and the Central African Republic and a rule of law mission to Kosovo.