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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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  • 23April 2007

    The EUISS organised this workshop to discuss Russia's domestic situation one year before the Presidential elections; recent changes in Russia's foreign policy; and policy options for the EU against the backdrop of domestic and foreign policy developments.

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    01April 2007

    L’Afrique est tentée par l’expérience européenne : les chantiers institutionnels et politiques que viennent d’ouvrir les dirigeants africains témoignent de leur volonté de prendre en mains leur propre développement en s’inspirant du modèle européen.

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    01April 2007

    This Chaillot Paper suggests that the next frontier in the future’s improvement process is global governance. Global challenges and opportunities call for concerted action. Individual states, including major - both old and emerging - powers cannot tackle challenges and exploit opportunities on their own.

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    01April 2007

    How should European and American policymakers respond to the inevitable rise of China and India on the world scene? Werner Weidenfeld assesses the ways in which international relations will undergo change in the years ahead and looks to a new Atlantic partnership while Marcin Zaborowski forms his commentary around the desire of Europe and America for a stable China.

  • 26March 2007

    On 26 March 2007, the Institute held a seminar to analyse the current situation in Lebanon and the potential contribution of the EU and of its member states to the stability of that country in the larger context of the Middle East.

  • 01March 2007

    The European Union has considerably extended its sphere of activity and its strategic responsibilities since ESDP was launched in 1999. European mobilisation is no longer restricted to tackling crises in the Balkans. The Union is being increasingly called upon to intervene as a stabilising force in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But why has there been such an expansion at the international level when, on the home front, the European institutional and political dynamic has been blocked for the past two years? And what are the prospects for the future?

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    01February 2007

    The Dayton Peace Agreement on Bosnia successfully ended the war in late 1995. However, the price for peace was an extremely weak and dysfunctional postwar state that would probably not have survived without substantial international support over the following decade.

  • 12January 2007

    The purpose of the seminar was to assess how EU reform is relevant to the Union's global role and, conversely, how the external challenges of the Union affect the path and priorities of reform.

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    01January 2007
    By

    The EU military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has come to an end, on schedule, as the presidential election process came to its own successful conclusion. For the first time in decades, this major African country, as large as the entire EU-25, and so crucial for the stability of the Great Lakes region and of Africa as a whole, has elected its president democratically.

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    01December 2006

    With its booming economy, China is emerging as the key player in Asia-Pacific and possibly as the world’s next superpower.

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  • 27February 2003

    Iraq, Iraq, Iraq - a code word for the crisis across the Atlantic and discord within Europe. Yet, though the divide across the Atlantic is bound to grow, the differences within Europe will probably dissipate because, in fact, the overwhelming majority of Europeans are against the war such as it is being forced upon them.

  • 17February 2003

    La gravité de la crise européenne et transatlantique ne tient pas tant aux injures et ressentiments réciproques, qui se propagent pourtant comme une traînée de poudre, qu'à la conjonction de deux mouvements ravageurs : une Amérique sans mémoire, une Europe sans vision.

  • 13February 2003

    Whether or not there will be a war against Iraq, the debate over war has already claimed a victim: the vision of the European Union as a global actor.

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    01February 2003

    This Chaillot Paper has three parts. The first consists of documents on the development and implementation of ESDP. The second brings together significant texts and contributions to the Convention concerning CFSP and ESDP, and the third documents connected with the fight against terrorism.

  • 01January 2003

    Depending on the moment, it is not uncommon to note two coexistent views of Europe’s political future. The first foresees a disintegration of the Union as an international actor, while the other sees it becoming more resilient and dynamic.

  • 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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