ABSTRACT
Since the creation of the alliance, one of the crucial issues has been to determine what should be the place and role of the European members within the alliance framework. The problem became even more acute when, in the early 1970s, the members of the community crossed another threshold in their pursuit of European union. Some feared that a split in the alliance might inevitably flow from the formal recognition of a European "identity," as expressed by the separate political meetings among the nine member-nations of the European Economic Community. After several bilateral treaties, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Helsinki Final Act not only confirmed the territorial and political status quo in Europe, but they also laid the groundwork for the next step, the establishment of a collective European security system, whereby political détente would be complemented by a reduction of military tensions.
