Europe’s Mission: Pushing for a Participative World Order ERNST-OTTO CZEMPIEL Upgrading the Atlantic Community B y»Europe« I understand primarily the European Union. Its task is procedural as well as conceptual. In order to be a global player the eu must develop an institutional framework within which the common for­eign and security policy, as well as the European Security and Defence Policy, must evolve. This organisational problem must be solved by means of the institutional reform which is being prepared by the Euro­pean Council, and I shall not cover this constitutional aspect. I shall concentrate on the conceptual challenge of installing a world or­der which recognises the distribution of power in the contemporary world and at the same time introduces, or re-introduces, certain rules of behaviour capable of diminishing, if not eliminating, the use of physical violence for the solution of conflicts. The Atlantic Community serves as a model for the realisation of societal aspirations throughout the world. Underlying the following analysis are four normative values: 1. The Atlantic Community comprising Western Europe and North America must be consolidated and preserved. In this region there is such a high density of interdependence in the areas of security, eco­nomic well-being and democratic participation that it has become the most important zone of peace in the world. With its achievements the Atlantic Community serves as a model for the realisation of societal as­pirations throughout the world. 2. The Atlantic Community is not identical with nato . In spite of its im­portant achievements during the Cold War and its peace-keeping ac­tivities since then, the alliance should be treated only as the military arm of the Atlantic Community. ipg 1/2003 Czempiel, Europe’s Mission 25