ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) has gone through fundamental changes over the last 20 years. At the end of the Cold War, what was then the European Economic Community (EEC) was a relatively small organisation composed of 12 member states, dealing mainly with economic issues and with little connection with the broad international security environment. Eleven out of the 12 EEC members were also NATO members, at a time when NATO was the exclusive security guarantor, and when the two organisations had no relations whatsoever. Close to 20 years later, the EU counts 27 members, is de facto present through various activities at a global scale, and has transformed itself into a political entity that is part of the international security architecture.
