EU Common Foreign Security Policy and the Ukraine Crisis

For decades the Member States of the European Community have cooperated in Foreign Policy, even exceeding the scope of the Community Treaties. In 1970, the European Political Cooperation (EPC) was established by six Member States through the Luxembourg Report, which was adopted by the foreign ministers in the European Council. The EPC was essentially an intergovernmental procedure, outside the jurisdiction of the Community institutions, through which Member States decided to cooperate in the field of foreign policy by consulting each other continuously and, when possible, harmonizing their viewpoints and establishing shared actions. Being the EPC an intergovernmental process, it took place entirely outside the Community institutions and its purpose was to unify Europe on a political level…..The issue in Crimea has turned into a worldwide crisis, although the situation of the two great powers, the EU and Russia, appears to be appropriate for their interests. Ukraine's security, as a transit nation in the context of the EU's energy security, is critical. Eastern European countries rely heavily on Ukraine for their energy needs, and Ukraine is an important country for the EU, which has integrated with Eastern Europe.