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Chapter 15: The Wider Institutional Framework for Security The European Union (EU) The European Union was established on the basis of the Treaty of Rome signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In 1973 they were joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom; in 1981 by Greece; in 1986 by Portugal and Spain; and in 1995 by Austria, Finland and Sweden. Accession negotiations were also successfully completed by Norway, but in a national referendum held in November 1994, 52.5 percent of Norwegian voters opposed membership of the European Union. Applications for membership of the EU have been submitted by Turkey and Cyprus, as well as the 10 associated countries of Central Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia). At the Maastricht European Council on 9 and 10 December 1991, the Heads of State and Government adopted a Treaty on Political Union and a Treaty on Economic and Monetary Union, which together form the Treaty on European Union. The Treaty came into force following ratification by all parties on 1 November 1993. On 16 and 17 June 1997 in Amsterdam, EU Heads of State and Government agreed on a number of revisions to the Maastricht Treaty which have implications for the future Common Foreign and Security Policy of the Union. In particular it was agreed that: the Secretary General of the European Council would assume the functions of High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy; a Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit would be established under his responsibility; the EU would draw up, together with the WEU, arrangements for enhanced cooperation between them within a year from the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam; humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking (the so-called "Petersberg missions" of the WEU: see Chapter 4) would be included in the revised Treaty (Article J.7). Conditional use of qualified majority voting was further elaborated in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. According to the new structure of the Treaty, the European Council will decide on common strategies to be implemented by the European Union in areas where the member states have important interests in common. The European Council will implement them, in particular through undertaking joint actions and adopting common positions. These decisions will be by qualified majority, but include provision for a member state to take a position of "constructive abstention". This would signify that the member state concerned chooses not to participate in the decision, but does not impede action by the other member states. Alternatively, if there are important questions of national policy at stake, a member state may choose to block a qualified majority vote, leaving open the possibility of appeal by other member states to the European Council. The role of the European Union in international relations extends far beyond the positions and actions adopted within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The EU is the world's largest trade entity. It is one of the largest providers of funds for the developing countries, one of the biggest financial contributors in the context of the Middle East and the biggest financial contributor to international efforts aimed at laying the foundations for a lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia. Many other well-established EU policies, such as those on agriculture and fisheries, also have important external dimensions. The Union's role in external relations will be further strengthened by the European Economic and Monetary Union and the establishment of a single currency. Considerable importance is therefore attached to ensuring that the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the Union is in line with all its other external policies. The Council of Ministers and the European Commission both have the responsibility, within their respective mandates, for ensuring that the Union's external activities as a whole are consistent with its external relations, security, economic and development policies. This approach has characterised policy development with regard to the enlargement of the EU, the EU pre-accession strategy towards the Central European candidate countries, EU-Russia relations and the EU's relations with the Mediterranean countries. The foundation for a future Euro-Mediterranean Partnership covering both political and economic relations, was laid at the Barcelona Conference in November 1995 (see Chapter 3). Both political and economic elements were similarly included when the EU-Asian dialogue was launched at the March 1996 Bangkok Summit of Heads of State and Government of the 15 European and 10 Asian nations. At the mid-term revision of the Lomé Convention between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the political elements of the convention were also reinforced. The European Union also maintains close cooperation with the Latin American countries. Furthermore, the Union maintains a continuing dialogue on political and economic issues of mutual interest and engages in direct negotiations on trade and investment issues with the United States, in the context of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and in the context of the EU-US Action Plan. Since the outbreak of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the disintegration of the federal state of Yugoslavia, the European Union has been engaged in efforts to bring about peace to the region and to channel humanitarian aid to the war-stricken communities affected by the conflict. The London Conference on Yugoslavia held in August 1992, chaired jointly by the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (then President of the European Council), represented a new departure for the EU in the field of foreign policy. This was the first combined EU-United Nations international operation. A new European envoy to Bosnia, Ambassador Carlos Westendorp (Spain) was appointed in May 1997 following the resignation of his predecessor Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden. Carlos Westendorp was replaced in Summer 1999 by Wolfgang Petritsch, former Austrian ambassador and European Union envoy to Belgrade. In May 2002, Wolfgang Petritsch was replaced by Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the British Social Democratic Party.