The Defense Policy of the European Union on the Modern Stage

The European Union is facing unprecedented challenges, both global and internal: regional conflicts, terrorism, growing migratory pressures, protectionism, social and economic inequalities. A safe and secure EU where all citizens feel sure and can move freely, external borders are secured, where international norms are respected, Europe determined to fight terrorism. The European international system is not rigid; it is characterized by constant changeability of the configuration of forces, spheres of influence. The states of the European Union system may be divided into static, transformative and turbulent. For example, Brexit, together with the cooperation and peaceful co-existence, proceed from the current state of the international system, as far as structural limitations imposed on the actions of states by the hierarchy of a system are more stable than the level of their influence. The disparity between the status of a state in the system and its potential abilities are the most credible explanations of conflict behaviour thereof. Conflict and cooperation are the most important manifestations of the subject of international relations and logically proceed from structural peculiarities of a current international system. Generally speaking, the existence of the system of international relations is defined by conditions of coexistence of contemporary Poles of international power, the superpower status of which is fixed with respect to peripheral social subject by relevant factorial, spectral, departmental, geo-civilizational, and institutional elements. The expansion in the range of issues, which did not require the unanimous approval of the EU member-states, but solely by voting on the principle of the qualified majority, was to promote the enforced cooperation between the EU member-states. These vectors were chosen due to the changes in the international arena which occurred during the period researched, reflected rather in these areas than in the economic policy since the state received the freedom of action in the search of a new balance of power. What is more, the EU institutions that govern the common foreign and security policy and the European defence remained weak even after the Maastricht treaty has been reviewed and the Amsterdam treaty has been signed. The monetary union is an identity instrument of the EU. The multi-ethnics identity is the feature of the migration processes in European Union.