ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a wide range of security and foreign policy issues. The founding treaties of the then-European Community (EC) did not delegate to the common European institutions any of the powers of foreign policy-making traditionally exercised by the nation-state. The Maastricht Treaty envisioned the "progressive framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence." To this end, it brought the West European Union, which was formed in 1954 but remained largely dormant, into the European Union (EU). European publics and governments, of course, have felt compelled to respond to this threat, which in 2015–2016 grew discernibly more acute. The EU and various European governments trade, maintain diplomatic missions, provide humanitarian support, and work to improve global and regional security with countries across the globe. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization arguably remains the most important security institution in Europe.
