Common Foreign and Security Policy

The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU External Relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas as funding to third countries, etc. Decisions require unanimity among member states in the EU's Council, but once agreed, certain aspects can be further decided by qualified majority voting. The CFSP operates as the second of the three pillars of the European Union as established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992. The CFSP sees the NATO responsible for the territorial defence of Europe and "peace-making" while since 1999 the European Union is responsible for implementation missions, such as peace-keeping and policing of treaties