The Common Security and Defence Policy Service Medal (named the European Security and Defence Policy Service Medal prior to 2009) is an international military decoration awarded to individuals, both military and civilian, who have served with CSDP missions. Since the 1990s the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

has taken a greater role in military missions both in Europe and abroad. These actions were taken under the

Common Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the de ...

(CSDP), which is implemented by the European Union Military Staff, a department of the EU. To recognize service in these missions the EU authorized the creation of a medal with a common obverse and reverse, to which clasps featuring the missions' name are attached to the

ribbon bar A medal ribbon, service ribbon or ribbon bar is a small ribbon, mounted on a small metal bar equipped with an attaching device, which is generally issued for wear in place of a medal when it is not appropriate to wear the actual medal. Each cou ...

Appearance

The medal is in diameter, made of a silver colored metal. All versions share a common design. The obverse of the medal is plain except for a circle of twelve five pointed stars around the outside edge of the medal. The reverse contains the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

phrase, ''Pro Pace Unum'', meaning "United for Peace". The words are arranged in three lines one word above the other in the center of the medal. The medal is suspended from a ribbon in EU blue with either a wide gold center stripe for headquarters and combat forces, or a wide white stripe for planning and support. Each operation is identified with a different clasp with the name of the operation worn on the ribbon of the medal. A miniature version is worn on the ribbon bar, when medals are not worn.

Ribbons and clasps

Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUPM), 1 January 2003 – 30 June 2012 * ESDP Medal CONCORDIA ribbon bar

EUFOR Concordia EUFOR Concordia was a European Union (EU) peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), which started on 31 March 2003. The EU took over from NATO's operation Allied Harmony and deployed around 300 troops to provide secu ...

, 31 March 2003 – 15 December 2003 * ESDP Medal ARTEMIS ribbon bar

Operation Artemis, 12 June 2003 – 1 September 2003 * ESDP Medal PROXIMA ribbon bar

EUPOL Proxima in the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, 15 December 2003 – 14 December 2005 * ESDP Medal ALTHEA ribbon bar

EUFOR Althea Operation Althea, formally the European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR), is a military deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina to oversee the military implementation of the Dayton Agreement. It is the successor to NATO's SFOR and IFOR. ...

, 2 December 2004 – * ESDP Medal EUSEC RD Congo ribbon bar

Reform Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( EUSEC RD Congo), 8 June 2005 – 2016 * ESDP AMIS

AMIS EU Supporting Action, 18 July 2005 – 31 December 2007 * ESDP Medal EUBAM Rafah ribbon bar

Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point ( EUBAM Rafah), 25 November 2005 – * ESDP Medal EUPOL COPPS ribbon bar

Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support ( EUPOL COPPS), 1 January 2006 – * ESDP Medal EUFOR RD CONGO ribbon bar

EUFOR RD Congo, 12 June 2006 – 30 November 2006 * ESDP Medal EUPOL AFGHANISTAN ribbon bar

Police Mission to Afghanistan ( EUPOL Afghanistan), 15 June 2007 – 31 December 2016 * ESDP Medal EUFOR TCHAD-RCA ribbon bar

Bridging Operation in Chad and the Central African Republic ( EUFOR Tchad/RCA), 17 March 2008 – 15 March 2009 * EUMM Georgia Medal ribbon bar

European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia ( EUMM Georgia), October 2008 – * ESDP Medal EU NAVFOR ATALANTA ribbon bar

EU Naval Operation Atalanta, 5 November 2008 – * ESDP KOSOVO

EU operations in Kosovo (including combined EU Election Observation Missions, European Commission and some early EULEX Kosovo awards), 9 December 2008 – * ESDP Medal EULEX KOSOVO ribbon bar

Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo ( EULEX Kosovo), 9 December 2008 – present * CSDP Medal EUTM SOMALIA ribbon bar

European Union Somalia Training Mission ( EUTM Somalia), in Uganda, May 2010 – present * CSDP Medal EUCAP NESTOR ribbon bar

European Union Regional Maritime Capacity Building for the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (EUCAP Somalia ''formerly'' EUCAP NESTOR), 16 July 2012 – present * CSDP Medal EUTM MALI ribbon bar

EUTM Mali, January 2013 – May 2024 * CSDP Medal EUAVSEC SOUTH SUDAN ribbon bar

European Union Aviation Security Mission in South Sudan ( EUAVSEC SOUTH SUDAN), February 2013 – January 2014 * CSDP Medal EUFOR RCA ribbon bar

EUFOR RCA European Union Force RCA, commonly referred as EUFOR RCA, was the United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping mission in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. The goal of the mission was to stabilize the area after more than ...

, April 2014 – 2015 * CSDP Medal EUAM UKRAINE ribbon bar