To meet the Petersberg tasks.

The Petersberg tasks cover great range of possible military missions, ranging from the most simple to the most robust military intervention. They are formulated as:

*Humanitarian and rescue tasks

*Peacekeeping tasks

*Tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking.

Officially, the range of tasks the EU commits itself "includes" these tasks, but is not limited by them. In practice, the task of territorial defence is considered the domain of NATO. As many European countries are fervent supporters of NATO, there are many provisions to prevent competition with NATO.

The Uk has a large role in the Commonwealth, and Spain has an increasing role in Latin America.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg