One of the purposes of the EU's existence is to deal with Russia.

During the Yeltsin era, Russia had plans to join NATO.

The NATOers panicked and refused.

"Can you imagine an elephant taking a bath in the bathtub?" the NATO people said at the time.

The current European Union also has this attitude.

In April 1990, French President Mitterrand and Federal German Chancellor Kohl jointly initiated an intergovernmental meeting on political alliance issues at the end of that year.

In October of the same year, the Extraordinary European Summit in Rome further clarified the basic direction of the political alliance.

In December of the same year, the European Community's intergovernmental meeting on the establishment of a political alliance began.

After a year of negotiations, the 12 countries adopted a political alliance treaty at the Maastricht Summit in December 1991.

Its main content is that the 12 countries will implement a common foreign and security policy and will eventually implement a common defense policy.

In addition, measures such as a unified fishery policy, the establishment of a European monetary system, and the construction of an economic and monetary union have been implemented.

Extended information: European Council President Van Rompuy announced on the evening of the 30th that EU member states except the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic adopted the draft "Fiscal Compact" at an informal meeting of EU leaders held in Brussels, Belgium that night.

Van Rompuy said at a press conference after the EU summit that EU member states that agree to join the "fiscal compact" will begin signing the draft in March, and then start the ratification process, which can be implemented as long as the 12 euro zone member states approve it.

This compact will impose stricter fiscal discipline on euro area countries and other EU member states that are willing to join, and will automatically impose penalties on countries that violate fiscal discipline.

The EU initially planned to introduce the ESM in July 2013, but Germany urged the early introduction of the mechanism to establish a more stable permanent fund and enhance its ability to withstand the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.