Bridging which gaps? The European Union’s use of private military and security companies in common security and defence policy missions

Oldrich Bures and Eugenio Cusumano

Defense & Security Analysis, 2025, vol. 41, issue 3, 464-489

Abstract: Scholarship and policy documents largely explain the use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions based on cost-savings and lack of in-house resources by member states (MSs). In this article, we develop a more comprehensive explanation of the EU's increasing use of PMSCs in CSDP missions as the outcome of three overlapping gaps: those between capabilities and expectations, consensus and expectations, as well as intentions and implementation. To probe our multiple gaps argument, we analyse security privatisation during CSDP missions, focusing on Operation EUBAM Libya. Our plausibility probe shows that contractor support was hardly efficient or effective and covered capabilities that MSs' security forces widely possess. However, the EU is often unable to activate and deploy national forces due to disagreements between MSs and bureaucratic constraints within MSs.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2025.2468530

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