External security tools of the European Union

Bachelor's Thesis Title: External security tools of the European Union Author: Ing. Jan Vasil Abstract This bachelor's thesis focuses on the instruments for ensuring the external security of the European Union, specifically on its rapid reaction forces, the European Union Rapid Deployment Capacity (EU RDC), in its efforts to achieve the ability to strategic autonomy. The thesis aims to assess whether the European Union has the means to conduct expeditionary operations by EU RDC units to fulfil strategic autonomy. It understands the European Union as a security actor and thus works at the system level of analysis, focusing on institutional structures and capabilities at the level of the European Union as a whole. According to the Warfighting Functions framework, the thesis analyses whether the EU RDCs are capable of autonomous deployment, based mainly on professional literature, documents and websites of the European Union. The thesis brings a comprehensive view of the current state of the EU's strategic autonomy in the context of rapid reaction forces. It confirms its attainability through the EU RDC, identifies the main limitations and at the same time demonstrates specific steps the EU takes to gradually fulfil its long-term defence vision.