Who

The creation of the European Union (EU) brought a new period of peace and stability that was unprecedented in European history. Now, with 27 Member States and over 490 million people producing a quarter of the world’s Gross National Product (GNP) the EU has become the cornerstone for security, stability and peace in the increasingly interdependent world.

Global challenges require joint efforts of key international players and increased effectiveness and coherence in cooperation among different institutional actors. Thus, the EU plays an active role in the international organisations and has established a strategic cooperation with the United Nations, OSCE and the Council of Europe.

Depending on the issue, the EU is pursuing different forms of cooperation: strategic partnerships, information exchange and best practices, joint activities, co-financing of missions, deployment of joint forces etc.

The EU has also established a number of strategic partnerships within the major regional groupings. For instance, the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership, transatlantic partnership in fight against terrorism, energy dialogue with Russia and human rights dialogue with China.