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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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  • 19March 2004

    José Luis Zapatero - "ZP", come lo chiamano i suoi sostenitori - non poteva non mantenere gli impegni assunti in campagna elettorale, cioe' la promessa di ritirare il contingente spagnolo di 1300 uomini che opera in Iraq sotto comando polacco (e con assistenza Nato) come parte delle forze di occupazione...

  • 11March 2004

    The terrorist attack in Madrid on 11 March 2004 was a grim reminder of the global nature and reach of terrorism. Following this event, the EUISS organised a seminar, held in Paris on 7 May 2004, to reflect on the terrorist threat from a European perspective.

  • 01March 2004

    Trois paradoxes définissent l'attitude de l'Union face au monde extérieur. Le premier est typique de la modernité post-guerre froide : à de rares exceptions près, il est beaucoup plus facile aux Européens de s'entendre sur l'analyse des crises extérieures que sur l'analyse de la politique américaine. Autrement dit, le monde rassemble, l'Amérique divise.

  • 01March 2004

    The ninth meeting of the Institute’s Task Force on the Balkans convened on 1 March 2004 to debate the recent elections in Croatia and Serbia. The key questions were the reasons why voters had turned to nationalist and, in the Serbian case, extremist parties, and what could be expected from the new governments.

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    01March 2004

    An analysis on Russia first published in the Washington Quarterly on Russia-EU relations, by Dov Lynch.

  • 10February 2004

    Du Maroc à l'Afghanistan, tout inventaire de la situation - un an après le début de la guerre en Irak - risque d'être comme de coutume complexe, ambigu, pire pour les uns, meilleur pour les autres, à l'exception de deux évidences : la détérioration continue du conflit israélo-palestinien d'une part ; l'extrême difficulté du « state building » en Irak, de l'autre

  • 27January 2004

    Ancora in un'intervista rilasciata tempo fa al Corriere della sera, il premier francese Jean- Pierre Raffarin insisteva sull'alternativa fra il varo più rapido possibile del trattato costituzionale per l'Ue e il lancio - descritto come quasi inevitabile - dei cosiddetti «gruppi pionieri» dell'integrazione.

  • 22January 2004

    The Bertelsmann Foundation has convened a European task force on Iraq, whose main aim is to assess a possible EU involvement in the political reconstruction of that country

  • 20January 2004

    Il Medio Oriente, il ruolo della Russia, le minoranze etniche oltre confine e i Balcani. Un'agenda per la Pesc che verrà. L'allargamento progressivo della Comunità prima e dell'Unione Europea poi è stato un grande successo economico e politico.

  • 20January 2004

    «Tre donne intorno al cor ...» - potrebbe essere questo il motto con cui Romano Prodi, il 1 maggio prossimo, accoglierà i nuovi commissari europei che entreranno a far parte del collegio da lui presieduto. I nuovi dieci membri dell'Unione hanno infatti diritto a nominare ciascuno un commissario, portando così la composizione del collegio a 30 membri, anche se solo fino al 1 novembre prossimo.

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