Trace European policy in time (9)
I believe the answer is:
delineate
'trace' is the definition.
(to delineate is to trace an outline)
'european policy in time' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'policy' becomes 'line' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 'date' (date is a kind of time).
'e'+'line'='eline'
'eline' going inside 'date' is 'DELINEATE'.
(Other definitions for delineate that I've seen before include "Trace" , "Indicate precisely" , "Draw" , "Sketch" , "Portray precisely - teen ideal (anag)" .)