The European Union has declared 1997 the European Year against Racism. In doing so, it has emphasized the task of combating racism and xenophobia as a political priority. Through cooperation and the exchange of information in the context of this year, efforts are to be stepped up by all concerned in the Member States and in the institutions of the Union to prevent and combat racism and xenophobia. In its regulation of 2 June 1997, the European Union resolved to establish a European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia. The function of this Centre, which has its seat in Vienna, is to observe and analyze the phenomena of racism and xenophobia in all the Member States and to inform both the institutions of the Union and the Member States of the results of its work.

In the Treaty of Amsterdam, the combating of racism and xenophobia has been designated an objective of the European Union.

One of the Union’s core elements is the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It builds on European Political Cooperation (EPC), which after a modest start 20 years ago has become a major instrument of European foreign policy and a second pillar of the unification process. New features include the integration of the CFSP into the uniform institutional framework of the Union, the addition of a security and defense policy dimension, and the stronger linkage of the CFSP with other areas of the EU, especially the external trade policy of the EU.

The Treaty of Amsterdam further develops the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The Western European Union (WEU) is to be expanded into the security and defense policy arm of the EU and, in the long term, embedded in the EU - not in competition with the Atlantic Alliance, but rather as its European pillar. The Europeans can thus assume more responsibility for their own security and, utilizing the NATO infrastruc-ture, also take action in crises. The indispensable collective defense and security alliance between Europe and North America will remain unaffected by this.

Economically, the European Union has become the most important internal market in the world. All customs and trade barriers between the 15 EU Member States have disappeared. The four fundamental freedoms of the European internal market are the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital.