Military Operation in Bosnia

Abstract

On December 2, 2004, the EU launched the military operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Althea is still ongoing and remains the largest CSDP mission ever deployed. It was not a completely new mission. In fact, the EU took over a well-functioning operation from NATO after the North Atlantic Alliance had ensured a “safe and secure environment” following the Dayton agreement of 1995. Through its Implementation and Stabilization Force (IFOR; SFOR), NATO had contributed to security in Bosnia. NATO handing over command to the EU fitted with the strategy to put Bosnia “irreversibly on to the road to statehood and membership of Europe” (Ashdown 2007: 299). An EU-led military operation would serve EU foreign policy better than the continuing NATO presence. After the takeover, NATO remained involved in Bosnia through the Berlin Plus agreement (see Chapter 4) and through its own residual activities. Operation Althea started with the same troop levels as SFOR, but the member states soon reduced their presence from the approximately 7,000 soldiers to 1,300 in 2012.