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EU foreign policy

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 and its subsequent implementation, the European Union has gradually assembled the constituent elements of a sui generis 'foreign policy', bringing together various competencies, instruments and resources that were hitherto spread across different institutions and bodies. Although the process is still on-going and progress is, in parts, uneven, certain traits of a more coherent common approach to foreign policy-making are now evident. In the Balkans, the Horn of Africa (both offshore and onshore), the Sahel, or the Middle East, joint and combined forms of external action - including diplomacy, enlargement, CSDP and development activities - are now producing more effective and lasting results.

Analysing the specific actors, instruments, policies, and strategies at the disposal of the Union and assessing their scope and outreach is also a way to illustrate what the EU does in the world - something which is not always known or appreciated by those who directly benefit from its external action, or indeed by European citizens at large. Monitoring performance, in turn, also contributes to improving it, in a constructive manner and on the basis of factual evidence.

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  • 01January 2003

    Vaclav Havel, the retiring Czech President and wise man of Central Europe, used to say that it took ten years to bring down communism in Poland, one year in Hungary, one month in East Germany and one week in (then) Czechoslovakia. It has taken a further decade to bring almost all of his Central Europe into the Western security communities: nothing much in historical terms, though much more so in psychological terms.

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    01January 2003

    Depuis 1999, l’Union européenne (UE) développe sa capacité globale (militaire et non militaire) de gestion des crises dans le cadre de la Politique européenne de Sécurité et de Défense (PESD). La « déclaration d’opérationnalité de la PESD », adoptée lors du Conseil de Laeken, constitue un pas important de ce développement.

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    01January 2003

    Lancé lors d’une réunion des ministres des affaires étrangères, le Pacte de stabilité a vu le jour en juin 1999. Cette nouvelle structure a pour ambition d’accompagner les Balkans pendant la période transitoire précédant leur intégration dans les structures euro-atlantiques.

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    01January 2003

    The idea behind this transatlantic book predates the intense transatlantic exchanges that took place prior to the war in Iraq in early 2003. The run-up to the passage of UN Resolution 1441 in November 2002 provided clear indications that Euro-American relations were about to enter previously uncharted territory.

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    01December 2002

    Most Americans see the regime of Saddam Hussein as a major threat to regional and international security that must be thwarted, even if that means threatening or even using military force. If Saddam were to acquire nuclear weapons, they fear, he would seek to use them to dominate the Middle East, possibly invading his neighbours as he has in the past and perhaps deterring the United States from stopping him.

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    01December 2002

    UNSC Resolution 1441 has given the Iraqi regime a last opportunity to abandon any WMD programmes. If Iraq does not comply fully with the resolution or if inspections show that Iraq is indeed hiding WMD, the Security Council will have to consider the situation and decide what measures must be taken to maintain international peace and security.

  • 01December 2002

    Bearing in mind that the Iraqi issue is and will remain high on the European and transatlantic agendas, the EU Institute for Security Studies has decided to examine it thoroughly through a series of publications and activities. The following texts are so far available

  • 25November 2002

    A transatlantic ‘brainstorming’ on Iraq brought together more than 40 officials and experts from both sides of the Atlantic. In the seminar, the options for tackling the Iraqi threat, from UNSC-sponsored inspections to military intervention, were considered. Special attention was paid to the difficulties of the aftermath of a war and occupation, and the implications for the transatlantic alliance and the Middle East region.

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    01October 2002

    The principal question of this Chaillot Paper is what guiding model (Leitbild) the EU should adopt with regard to CFSP. This paper suggests that the EU’s external activities should be based on a ‘cooperative security provider’ model, embracing civilian, military and normative elements in a comprehensive approach to peace and security.

  • 20September 2002

    On 20 September 2002, the Institute organised a seminar to analyse the role of the European Union in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially since the outbreak of violence in autumn 2000.

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