A Civilian power Europe? A discussion on how the EU as an international actor can be understood

Abstract: EU's foreign policy operational endeavours of the last decade have given tangible evidence of a change in EU's foreign policy from a civilian power to a military power. However commentators are still holding fast to the idea that despite these shiftstoward a military power, the EU can still be called civilian. This paper researches the discourse surrounding the civilian power concept to find common denominators with which to create a civilian power ?yardstick? that can be applied to the EU's foreign policy operations in the former Yugoslavia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The observations that can be made are that the EU is neither a civilian power, because of the growing acquirement of military means but nor is it a military power due to consensus and identity problems. The EU is at a cross road where it has a possibility to choose from a whole panoply of capabilities, both civilian and military to solve international issues.