The evolution of military roles in Europe since the end of the Cold War poses a series of important challenges for armed forces. For a number of states, the declining saliency of the external defence role has been replaced by an emerging focus on new – or at least newly re-emphasised roles and missions. These include power projection for both war fighting and peacekeeping purposes as well as internal security tasks in response to new security challenges and the continued importance of nation building and domestic military assistance role. However, the organisational and financial demands of these roles are high and often conflictual. Most European countries simply cannot 'do everything' with their armed forces therefore. They need to make hard choices about what they are actually for and structure their military reform programmes on this basis.