On 12 December 2003, the heads of state and government of European Union (EU) member states attending the European Council meeting at Brussels adopted the EU’s first ever European Security Strategy (ESS) – a 14-page paper with the title “A Secure Europe in a Better World”.1 The document had taken just seven months to produce since May 2003, when EU foreign ministers meeting at Kastellorizo on Rhodes asked the Union’s High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, to produce a first draft. The version emerging from his staff was welcomed by the Thessaloniki European Council on 20 June, and was subjected to debate both at public seminars and among member states (through the Political and Security Committee2 at Brussels) before a somewhat adapted version got the final seal of approval in December.