Europe's Role in the United Nations

With the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon onDecember 1, 2009, the European Union replaced the European Community. From this date on, the European Union assumed all rights and duties of the European Community, among them its status within the United Nations – whereby it retains all the existing rights and duties of the European Community.

The Treaty of Lisbon simplified and imparted continuity to the international representation of the European Union. The development of a European foreign service, under the leadership of High Representative Catherina Ashton, serves to improve the strategic alignment, coherence, and efficacy of European foreign policy – and thus allows for improved possibilities for cooperation with international partners, especially the United Nations.

The European Union cooperates on many levels with the United Nations. For one, its member states contribute some 40% of the budget of the United Nations – a considerable share. For another, the European Union is deeply integrated in the work of the United Nations in the area of crisis management, such as in the field of peace-keeping measures, for example Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina and EUPOL in Afghanistan, and in the area of emergency assistance, most recently following the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan.