EUROPEAN UNION'S NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION POLICY

The beginnings of the European Union's nuclear non-proliferation policy date back to the 1980s, but only starting from 2003 the EU became strongly involved in this field, as part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The European Union Strategy Against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, adopted in December 2003, marked the institutionalization of the EU's non-proliferation policy. Although the document was supposed to bring more efficiency and efficacy, the truth is that more than 15 years passed since its adoption and the European policy of nuclear non-proliferation can still be considered as having rather moderate results. The European Union's nuclear non-proliferation policy had so far a limited impact and a moderate efficiency not due to the lack of instruments and means but mostly because the instruments foreseen in the official documents are either not used or are improperly used. The Treaty of Lisbon did not bring, as it was supposed, more coherence and consistency in this field, and in these circumstances it becomes important to analyze what could and should European leaders do in the near future if the desiderate is to develop a real nuclear non-proliferation policy.