Critical geopolitics highlights the construction of threats, space and identities along an inside-outside line, and the subsequent normalization of the practice of power projection beyond one’s own external boundary so as to obtain security within. When applied to the EU’s response to piracy at the Horn of Africa, this approach allows understanding the role of geographical representations and the subsequent normalization of power projection activities as a response to piracy. Ultimately, this article demonstrates that the EU’s geopolitical discourse and power projection activities transcend the somewhat benign image given by the Union as a civilian or normative power, although geopolitical interests and global governance principles are not incompatible.