EUROPEAN COUNCIL MEETING IN LAEKEN 14 AND 15 DECEMBER 2001 / Declaration on the operational capability of the common european security and defence policy

(A) At Nice and Göteborg, the European Council undertook to make the European Union quickly operational in this field and to take a decision to that end no later than at the European Council in Laeken. The extraordinary European Council meeting on 21 September 2001 reaffirmed the objective: "it is by developing the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and by making the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operational at the earliest opportunity that the Union will be most...