The United States looks to Europe for partnership on an extensive range of global issues. In terms of international politics, security, and economics, Americans and Europeans tend to share broadly similar values, and often tend to pursue common or compatible goals. Many observers assert that the collective weight and influence of Europe and the United States, when projected through common transatlantic positions and complementary actions, fundamentally increases the odds that both sides will be able to achieve mutually desirable outcomes in world affairs. More than five decades after the Treaties of Rome (1957) launched a process of European integration, the European Union (EU) has come to play an increasingly important role in the life of its 27 member countries. Reflective of this evolution, significant aspects of policy making have been gradually shifting from national capitals to the EU institutions based in Brussels. Although the United States continues to maintain strong and active bilateral relations with the individual countries of Europe, and the transatlantic defense relationship remains centered in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), some observers assert that much of the transatlantic partnership is increasingly set in the context of U.S. relations with the EU. Members of Congress and other U.S. policymakers working on transatlantic and global issues have sought to better understand the nature and structure of EU foreign policy and the EU policy-making process. The work of the U.S. Congress encompasses a wide range of activities and issues that have a European dimension, including numerous security and economic concerns. Thus, whether the topic is police training in Afghanistan or the Balkans; anti-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa; counterterrorism and terrorist financing; Iran sanctions; efforts to end the armed conflict in Syria; political approaches to Russia or China; free trade agreements with South Korea; assistance to developing countries; responses to change in North Africa; or any one of many more issues that could be listed, Members of the 113 th Congress often have an interest in examining whether U.S. and EU legislation, initiatives, funding, operations, and political communication are complementary or contradictory. Members of Congress tend to examine such issues in the context of Congress's own legislative activities, oversight activities vis-à-vis policies of the U.S. Administration, or in the context of direct interaction with European legislators and officials. Many Members of Congress also remain interested in assessing the ways in which developments in EU foreign and security policy might affect the United States and its interests over the longer term. Possible avenues for exploring such interest include examining the EU's global role in the context of evolving U.S. foreign policy priorities, the relationship between the EU and NATO, and the dynamics of the U.S.-EU-NATO relationship. The institutional complexity of the EU often presents a challenge to understanding the context and significance of its external policies (policies governing relations with other regions and non-member countries). Since the Treaty on European Union (also commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty) established the modern EU in 1992, EU external policies have been formulated and managed under one of two separate institutional processes: The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which includes a Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), is intergovernmental in nature: the 27 member state governments, acting on the basis of unanimous agreement in the European Council (the heads of state or government) and the Council of the European Union (also called the Council of Ministers), are the key actors. External policies in areas such as trade, foreign aid, and EU enlargement are shaped and executed under a supranational or "community" decision-making process involving all three of the main EU institutions—the European Commission is arguably the most significant actor in these areas, although the member states (represented in the European Council and the Council of Ministers) and the European Parliament also have important decision-making roles. The Lisbon Treaty, the EU reform treaty that took effect in December 2009, introduced changes designed to improve the coherence and effectiveness of EU external policies, primarily by enhancing the coordination between these two strands. The treaty set out to remedy three main weaknesses that analysts had identified with regard to EU external policies and the EU policy-making process. First, while consensus does exist on many issues, achieving political agreement among 27 member countries can be inherently difficult. Differences between the member states can leave the EU with a thinly developed policy or with no common policy at all. A lack of consensus and direction can hinder the development of longer-term strategic approaches to an issue or region. The absence of a common policy can breed confusion if the EU "speaks with many voices" as national leaders express their own views and preferences. Second, critics regularly asserted that EU foreign policy tended to suffer from insufficient institutional coordination and coherence. Too often, it is argued, the intergovernmental and supranational strands of external policy had not been linked in a meaningful or complementary way. According to this view, the EU has punched below its global weight because it did not fully leverage the considerable array of policy instruments at its disposal. Third, prior institutional arrangements—namely, the former prominence of the rotating six-month national presidencies in external affairs—were susceptible to shifting priorities, with results sometimes detrimental to policy continuity. One key Lisbon Treaty innovation designed to address these points was the creation of a new position: High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The position comes with the additional title of Vice President of the European Commission. (It is therefore represented in EU documents as the HR/VP.) This is the job that has been held since 2009 by former EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton (her five-year term will end in late 2014). She performs the external policy duties previously divided between three officials: the High Representative for CFSP (formerly Javier Solana), the foreign minister of the rotating presidency country, and the Commissioner for External Relations. As such, the High Representative position seeks to be an institutional bridge linking together and coordinating the intergovernmental and "community" dimensions of EU external policy. A new EU diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service (EEAS), was officially launched in December 2010 to support the work of the High Representative in coordinating and implementing EU foreign policy. The structure of the EEAS likewise reflects a concept of institutional merger between the European Commission and the Council of Ministers: one-third of the personnel of the EEAS is drawn from the Commission, one-third from the secretariat of the Council of the European Union, and one-third is seconded from the national diplomatic services of the member states. The Lisbon Treaty also created a new "permanent" President of the European Council, an individual serving a once-renewable, two-and-a-half-year term, to manage the activities of the group, promote the formation of consensus, and speak on its behalf. The president is appointed by agreement among the member states. This is the position held since 2009 (and until 2014) by former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. From the time it was founded in the 1950s, the EU has regarded itself as a civilian power. NATO was the forum where many of the original EU members could focus on questions of Cold War defense and security. Meanwhile, the early decades of the EU were preoccupied with the technical aspects of deep economic integration. This type of integration represented a new form of cooperation between sovereign states that was the very antithesis of the power politics that twice led to the devastation of Europe between 1914 and 1945. The end of the Cold War, however, sparked debates within the EU about the desirability of developing a stronger foreign policy identity. After some early steps in that direction, Europe's inability to mount a strong political or military intervention in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s lent renewed urgency to such efforts while also stimulating initiatives to build an EU security and defense capability. The 1992 Treaty on European Union outlines the broad set of principles that guide the EU's external policies and actions. Under the treaty, the EU aims to (a) safeguard its values, fundamental interests, security, independence, and integrity; (b) consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of international law; (c) preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and with the aims of the Charter of Paris, including those relating to external borders; (d) foster the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of developing countries, with the primary aim of eradicating poverty; (e) encourage the integration of all countries into the world economy, including through the progressive abolition of restrictions on international trade; (f) help develop international measures to preserve and improve the quality of the environment and the sustainable management of global natural resources, in order to ensure sustainable development; (g) assist populations, countries and regions confronting natural or man-made disasters; and (h) promote an international system based on stronger multilateral cooperation and good global governance. The European Security Strategy (ESS), released in 2003, is another important touchstone for understanding the basic philosophy of EU foreign policy. The ESS sets out three broad strategic objectives for EU policymakers: First, most immediately, the EU should take necessary actions to address a considerable list of global challenges and security threats, including regional conflicts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, state failure, organized crime, disease, and destabilizing poverty. (The 2008 Report on the Implementation of the European Security Strategy adds piracy, cyber security, energy security, and climate change to the list.) Second, the EU should focus particularly on building regional security in its neighborhood: the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East. Third, over the longer term, the EU should seek the construction of a rules-based, multilateral world order in which international law, peace, and security are ensured by strong regional and global institutions.