| 英文摘要 |
Be composed of the Heads of State or Government, the European Council is the highest decision-making institution of the European Union (EU). Although it provides the EU with the necessary impetus for its development and defines the general political directions and priorities, it is not the original institutions, which the Community has established from the beginning. As a unoffical institution, the European Council emerged twenty years after the birth of the Community, it takes another twenty years until it become the formal institution. Like the European Council, the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is a policy which the EU recently develops. Since the Treaty of Brussels from1948, the security and defence policy has existed parallel to the Community more than forty years. 1992, the European Council and the CSDP become the formal institution and the official policy of the EU. The inclusion into the EU is not only the logical consequence from the views of the integration theory, but also sets up a milestone in the development of the European integration. This article firstly deals with the developments of the European Council and the ESDP from their beginning respectively. Second, it analyzes the role and functions of the European Council in the ESDP according to the European Treaty. Third, the role of the chairman-in-office and the permanent president of the European Council will be discussed. Finally, a conclusion will be made. |