EuropeanEuropean Union Union PoliticsPolitics

Chapter 21 : Chapter 21 : External External RelationsRelations

Margaux Bia Alicia Dutrannoit Catarina Deraedt

Caroline van der Rest

The EU is an The EU is an important actor on the important actor on the

world stage…world stage…

Why?- Its size,- Its resources,- And its ability to act in a united or at least coordinated manner.

There are four mains aspects to the EU's external relations :– Trade;– Foreign, security and defence;– Development;– The external dimension of internal policies.

§1) §1) External TradeExternal Trade

The Member States of the EU…-Form a united front to the world;-Act as one to contract trade agreements;-Have a unified internal market.

Trade PoliciesTrade Policies

• Liberal trade policy• But - « special » national

economic circumstances and political pressure - damaging consequences

Lack of uniformity.

Trade and trade-Trade and trade-dominated agreementsdominated agreementsWide range of agreements of different forms:•Some are part of the EU's development cooperation policies•Some are not and can be distinguished in three main types:

o Trade agreements : art. 207 TFEUo Trade and economic cooperation agreements : Combination of article

207 TFEU and another article.o Association agreements : 217 TFEU.

Aim: Open market access and varied forms of cooperation

Policy ProcessesPolicy Processes

•Trade Agreements were the responsibility of the Commission and the Council.

•NOW, the Lisbon Treaty increased the role of the EP in the decision-making process.

• Consequences:– Ordinary legislative procedure is

used;– EP = co-decision maker;– EP has greater powers to negociate

and contract agreements;– EP's consent is needed;– Various tensions between the EU

institutions.

§2) §2) Foreign and Foreign and defence policiesdefence policies

•Resources and problems with their usage•The evolution of the EU's foreign and defence policy•Policy aims •Policy instruments•Policy processes

Resources and Resources and problems with their problems with their

usage usage Disposal of considerable resources and need of and effective use obligation for the Member States to try to act in common whenever possible BUT difficulty for the EU to maximize its potential :

- intergovernmental base- unanimity requirement

much of the EU’s foreign and defence policy potential is unrealised

EU = “soft” international power

The evolution of the EU's The evolution of the EU's foreign and defence policy foreign and defence policy

a) a) Foreign policyForeign policy

•MS cooperated with one another •Economic giant and political pygmy situation changed•Five factors have stimulated this change: - Ending of the Cold War and collapse of communism - German reunification - Gulf War - Break-up of Yugoslavia and EU's response to it - Treaties have provided for advances in EPC

b) b) Defence policy Defence policy •Difficult area in which to develop EU inter-state cooperation

HOWEVER engagement in these policies for the last 20 years :

- early 1990s : tentative - end of the 1990s : reliance on the USA

and need for a greater EU independent capability

- 1998 : breaktrough with the Franco-British Summit•3 types of policy : Soft security policy, Hard security policy and Defence policy

Policy aimsPolicy aims• Aims are based on general guiding

principles • Particular focus on cultivating cooperative

and stable relations with neighbouring states

• Creation of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)

• ENP's aim = place the EU's bilateral relations with its neighbours within a more coherent and ordered framework

Policy instrumentsPolicy instruments

Common strategies, joint actions and common positions + Art. 25 many instruments

BUT mostly informal

Policy processesPolicy processes• CFSP has never been part of the « EU

mainstream » • CFSP policy processes have displayed 3 main

distinctive features : - strong role of Commission + the jurisdiction of

the EU's Courts not extended to the CFSP- QMV available in the Council + role of the EP

restricted- CFSP has its own distinctive instiutional position 

The European Council

•responsible for the overall direction of the CFSP •Pronounces on foreign policy issues of current concern

The Council of Ministers = very heart of CFSP processes

1. The Foreign Affairs Council = meeting between Foreign ministers

chaired by the High Representative main decision-making body of the

CFSP2. The Committee of Permanent

Representatives 3. The Political and Security Committee 4. The Correspondents’ Group5. Working groups

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

•2 main institutional limitations of this post : o Commission continued to have an External

Relations Commissioner uncertainties regarding leadership + responsibilities

o No independent powers

• Attempt to tackle these problems : merging of the posts into « High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy »

• Institutional position is complex

The Commission

•«fully associated» in the foreign policy field BUT intergovernmental nature of the field

Commission’s position is weakened

internal organisational changes

• Strengthened position thanks to the Lisbon Treaty

The European Parliament

•Only role in CFSP decision-making is during the budgetary procedure

Embassies, delegations and missions

Undermined role because of rapid international travel and communications

§3) Development §3) Development PolicyPolicy

Policy contentPolicy content•Primary objective: reduction and eradication of poverty (art. 208 TFEU + 2005 Consensus on Development and its 8 MDGs).

•Reasons for the EU’s engagement in development policy are threefold: historical, moral and economic.

•Available forms of assistance to the developing world in general:

1) Generalised preferences: preferential trading access to the EU market,

2) Food aid,3) Emergency aid,4) Aid to non-governmental organisations,

+ Cooperation agreements (Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2000, with 79 ACP countries).

Policy processesPolicy processesVarying actors and procedures:•Actors: - Foreign Affairs Counil

- Commissioner for Development - Development DG (Directorate General) - EP Committee on Development - Diplomatic missions of developing countries in Brussels,

accredited to the EU - EU delegation in developing countries

•Decision-making procedures: Depend on the type of decision.

- Declaration or Resolution (moves at its own pace)

- Trade-only agreement (art. 207: QMV, EP)

- Cooperation or association agreement (QMV or unanimity, EP)

§4) The external Dimension §4) The external Dimension of Internal Policiesof Internal Policies

• Many internal policies have significant external dimensions

• Theory of the implied external powers (associated with the principle of “parallelism” (power of negotiation and conclusion of international agreements): art. 216 TFEU)

• EU is well prepared for negotiations with third parties, and is thus often able to exert a significant external policy influence in internal policy areas.

The Consistency and The Consistency and Representational Representational

ProblemsProblems

• Ensuring consistency in the different areas of external relations is fundamental and has been a major problem.

• Reasons why it can be difficult to ensure consistency:- Great spread of the EU’s external relations’ interests and activities;- Diversity of actors and processes involved;- Differing powers of the EU (particularly when shared competences);- Conflicting orientations and preferences of MS;- Varying levels of EU policy development.

• Procedures, mechanisms and arrangements exist to try and maximise consistency:- Ex: coordinating structure in the Commission (Commissioners’ Relex Group; Directors General Relex Group; Inter-service groups)- High Representative post, introduced by art. 21 TFEU

Concluding RemarksConcluding RemarksThe EU is a partially constructed international actor:Major influence in respect of trade policy;Significant influence in terms of development, environment and other policies;Modest but growing influence in respect of foreign and defence policies.

Central question: will the EU advance from being a modest player to becoming a major player in the foreign and defence policy fields?

Requirement of a stronger collective political will;

No pessimism: insurmountable barriers have been removed in recent years…

Thank you for your attention !Thank you for your attention !