Publication

Two decades after the iron curtain was torn down Europe is stronger than ever. Europe matters in the world and the world matters to Europe. The European Union is the world’s largest and richest marketplace. It stands for political stability, security, and prosperity. It has evolved into a recognised actor in international crisis management, with an increasing capa-city for taking action on foreign and security policy matters. The end of the cold war has produced a drastic change in Europe’s security environment. It has also triggered a wave of inter- and intra-State armed conflicts in the vicinity of the EU and far beyond. Today, the European Union faces security challenges entirely different from those at the time of its inception. Some problems such as new forms of financial fraud or cyber-crime have simply grown beyond the ability of individual nation states to deal with them.