歐洲統合的進程在經濟、文化與推動西方普世價值方面已使得歐洲聯盟成為一個全球「公民強權」的角色，但是是否藉此轉化成為一個「軍事強權」，仍然是歐盟各會員國爭論的焦點。從馬斯垂克條約將「共同外交與安全政策」納入歐盟決策的三大支柱之一後，歐盟在外交與安全政策的合作才開始具備法律的基礎。但是一九九0年代發生於歐洲本身的區域衝突，凸顯歐盟在解決歐洲本身軍事爭端時的無力感。在一九九0年代末期發展出的「歐洲安全與防衛政策」即著眼於歐盟自主軍事力量的整合與強化，以期因應未來可能發生的區域與國際衝突。 ..

The process of the European integration in economic, cultural and universalising Western values in the past half century has reinforced EU's role as a global “civilian power”. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty founded a “Common Foreign and Security Policy ”, as one of the three pillars of EU, providing c0operation of foreign and security policies among member states with a legal basis. Nevertheless, regional conflicts in Europe of hte 90s only demonstrated that EU was not yet capable of solving military conflicts in its..