ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of European foreign and security policy using the conceptual framework, and considers the role played by the three selected states in nearly 25 years of its development. It considers the contribution of The Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland to the development of European foreign and security policy's capacity; its ability to agree, its ability to act and the dedication of resources to its goals. At a French suggestion, it was agreed that national leaders would meet three times per year 'in the Council of the Communities and in the context of political co-operation. In Ireland, for example, the sharpening of Cold War tensions from 1980 cut away some of the ambivalence which had heretofore enveloped Irish neutrality. CFSP had been introduced with the Maastricht Treaty but it was seen by many member states as yet another interim stage before a more profound development in the construction of a European foreign and security policy.
