The Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union: Words or Deeds?

Abstract

This chapter deals with the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU) established by the Maastricht Treaty, signed in February 1992 and in force since 1 November 1993. The Maastricht Treaty revised and developed the treaties of the European Communities (EC) and added a second pillar on CFSP and a third pillar on co­operation in matters of Justice and Home Affairs (including asylum, immigration, combatting drug addiction and fraud on an international scale, etc). The first pillar which, apart from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), especially includes a revised European Economic Community (EEC), now simply called European Community, includes the plans for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) by the end of the decade. The EC pillar also contains new policy chapters and new decision-making procedures, first of all the so-called co-decision procedure (art. 189b) which has increased the powers of the European Parliament in a number of areas, including the internal market.1