You are here

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.

Pages

  • 01November 2007

    Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Poland’s former foreign minister, offered a damning verdict on his country’s diplomacy under the Kaczynskis. “If the bride is poor and ugly,” he said, “the least she can do is to be gracious.”

    During their two-year rule the twins chastised the Germans, refused to talk to the Russians and at times ignored most European partners.

  • 29October 2007

    This event sought to foster a a transatlantic dialogue on the key questions for a negotiated solution: Palestinian politics; the regional context (including Iran); and the respective roles of the EU and the US in promoting the peace process.

  • 23October 2007

    The EUISS co-hosted a high-level conference in Lisbon with the Portuguese Ministry of Defence to debate the role of the EU in African security, the rule of law and political control of the African security sector and the concepts of ownership and responsibility in EU-African co-operation.

  • 15October 2007

    This was the first in a series of EUISS seminars on the 'frozen conflicts' in the EU's Eastern neighbourhood. After taking stock of the current situation in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia, it focused on confidence-building measures and the prospects for deeper engagement by the EU.

  • Download document
    01October 2007

    Over the last ten years, the EU Special Representatives (EUSRs) have pioneered EU foreign policy in countries and regions of direct interest to the Union. EUSRs are a face of the Union, enhancing its visibility, and they give it a voice, seeking to deliver a single message to local and international partners, playing an important role in EU foreign policy.

  • 24September 2007

    The EUISS and the Asia Centre co-hosted the second Sino-European dialogue on security which focused on crisis prevention and crisis management, non-proliferation in the Korean Peninsula, promotion of stability in Africa, and the transparency of EU and Chinese defence policies.

  • Download document
    01September 2007

    For six decades the United States has supported European integration, yet many Americans have an ambivalent attitude towards the European Union. Some Americans see the EU as the culmination of historic efforts to ensure peace, stability and democracy on the continent, while others consider the Union an elaborate scheme to create a rival to US hegemony. Still others dismiss the EU as irrelevant.

  • Download document
    01September 2007

    By introducing the Wider Europe concept and the European Neighborhood Policy, the European Union has actually entered a region which Russia has long considered the sphere of its national interests. The Occasional Paper explores the resultant ‘zero-sum game’.

  • 20July 2007

    The purpose of the seminar was to assess the situation in the region in light of the new government in Serbia, the impasse in the Kosovo status process, and the challenges ahead in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the start of the new OHR/EUSR's mandate.

  • 09July 2007

    This seminar was convened in order to understand the humanitarian crisis in all its complexity but also to determine how the European Union can act effectively in such circumstances as well as to ascertain what could be done in the future to prevent such humanitarian disasters from happening again.

Pages

Pages

  • Download document
    01April 2003

    Aiming to reach operational status in 2008, the Galileo satellite system is planned to offer positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services worldwide. It will join the ranks of the current GPS and GLONASS systems, allowing users to pinpoint their exact locations.

  • Download document
    01April 2003

    The work of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the final report of its working group on defence have illustrated that armaments might well become one of the key issues on the agenda of the next Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). The purpose of this Chaillot Paper is to provide practitioners, experts and policy-makers with necessary background information.

  • 28March 2003

    Politisch hat der Irak-Krieg schon heute verheerenden Schaden angerichtet. Vor allem die internationalen Organisationen UN, NATO und EU gehören zu den grossen Verlierern. Besonders prekär erscheint dabei die Lage der Europäischen Union, auf die ausgerechnet in der jetzigen Phase der Zerrissenheit entscheidende Weichenstellungen zukommen: Bis zum Sommer soll der Konvent seine Vorschläge zur künftigen Kompetenzverteilung in der EU unterbreiten.

  • 23March 2003

    La larga crisis sobre Irak y la guerra en curso plantean una cuestión central para los europeos: tras una división tempestuosa, ¿volverá la Unión Europea a la calma, o habrá que replantearse todo el proyecto europeo?

  • 07March 2003

    La declaración tripartita franco-ruso-germana ha aclarado en gran medida el marco jurídico internacional de la crisis. La incertidumbre sobre la votación en el Consejo de Seguridad ha desaparecido. Ahora sabemos que Francia y Rusia vetarán.

  • 07March 2003

    Es ist eine Binsenweisheit, dass jede Krise auch Chancen in sich birgt. Ob dies im Falle der Irak-Krise auch für die Europäische Union gilt, erscheint allerdings fraglich. Welche Konsequenzen werden die Mitgliedsstaaten aus dem offenen Zerwürfnis der letzten Wochen ziehen?

  • 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.

  • Download document
    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.

Pages