The '''European Security and DefenseDefence Policy''' or '''ESDP''' is considered a major element of the [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]] [[three pillars of the European Union|pillar]] of the [[European Union]]. The ESDP was initiated by provisions of the [[Treaty of Amsterdam]] which stipulated the progressive framing of a common security and defence policy that could deal with humanitarian and rescue task, [[peacekeeping]] tasks and tasks of combat forces in [[crisis management]], including peacemaking. These are the so-called [[Petersburg tasks]].
== Elements of the ESDP ==
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== Predecessors of the ESDP==
* '''[[European Defence Community]]''': The EDC was a defensedefence community proposed in the 1950s soon after the creation of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]]. The founding treaty failed to be ratified and so the project was abandoned.
* '''[[Western European Union]]''': The WEU was created after the failure of the EDC, an an organizationorganisation composed of those state members of both NATO and EU. Partially dormant, its tasks have been in part transferred to the EU. It's not yet certain whether the WEU will remain an independent organizationorganisation or be eventually fully merged into the EU.
