The European Union on the world stage

In economic, trade and monetary terms, the European Union has become a major world power. The EU has considerable influence within international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the specialist branches of the United Nations (UN) and at world summits on the environment and development.



Some have described the EU as an economic giant but a "political dwarf". This is an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it is true that the EU member states have a long way to go, in diplomatic and political terms, before they can speak with one voice on major issues like peace and stability, terrorism, the Middle East, relations with the United States and the role of the UN Security Council. The EU countries retain full national sovereignty over their armed forces. Their defence systems are firmly in the hands of the national governments, and the only ties between them are those forged within alliances such as NATO. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), provided for in the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties, define the EU`s main tasks in the area of defence. On this basis the EU has developed its “second pillar” – the policy domain in which action is decided by intergovernmental agreement and in which the Commission and Parliament play only a minor role. Decisions in this domain are taken by consensus, allowing in States to abstain.



In 2003, the EU`s political and strategic landscape looked like this: With Russia following the path of friendship with the western world, and the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe joining NATO and the EU almost simultaneously, more than half a century of Cold War is well and truly behind us. The continent of Europe is becoming peacefully united, and European countries are working together to fight international crime such as people smuggling and money laundering. The EU has formed an organised partnership with its large neighbours, such as Russia and the Ukraine, which have no prospect of joining the European Union - at least in the medium term.



The attacks on Washington and New York on 11 September 2001, and the terrorist violence that has struck many parts of the world since then, have profoundly altered the strategic landscape.