The Institutional Set-Up of the European Union's Nuclear Non-proliferation Policy

This chapter provides a review of the process through which the principal institutions and bodies for direction and action in the field of EU non-proliferation emerged and were consolidated. Furthermore, we will also review and identify the political foundations of the EU's foreign action in nuclear non-proliferation and the characteristics that define Europe's actions in this field today. The goal is to gain insight into whether the current institutional framework of the European Union supports or rather undermines its performance and, consequently, fuels contestation of the EU as an international actor in nuclear non-proliferation.