| | BBC News EUROPE The EU gets teeth |
 | | EU leaders want to announce at the Laeken summit that the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) - and its keystone, the planned rapid reaction force - is "operational". |
| | "When we say ESDP is operational, we mean that it has the basic framework to fulfil basic tasks such as humanitarian rescue missions, not that it has the ability to engage in peace enforcement operations," UK Europe Minister Peter Hain said last month. |
| | However, in the light of the 11 September attacks there has been talk of either adding to this list, or redefining it, possibly to include something like the bombing campaign in Afghanistan. |
| news.bbc.co.uk /hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1704000/1704566.stm |
