![The European Union in the World [European Youth Event 2023]](https://i0.wp.com/epthinktank.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AdobeStock_25713468.jpeg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
Written by Branislav Stanicek.
| The European Youth Event will bring together thousands of young people in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on 9 and 10 June 2023, to share ideas about the future of Europe. This introduction to one of the major topics to be discussed during the EYE event is one of 11 prepared by the Parliament’s Research Service (EPRS). It offers an overview of the main lines of EU action and policy in the area concerned, and aims to act as a starting point for discussions during the event. You can find them all on this link. |
The European Union is a peace project – aimed at safeguarding peace, upholding the principles of international law and promoting European values through its common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The recent geopolitical shifts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the COVID‑19 pandemic, and climate and technology challenges, all allow the EU to demonstrate its capacity to act swiftly and in unison. While CFSP decisions are currently made by unanimity among EU member countries represented in the Council, there is a debate on moving to qualified majority in some areas.
Background
Robert Schuman declared in May 1950 that ‘world peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it’. With international relations and peace endangered in many places today, these creative efforts are needed more than ever. The EU’s common foreign and security policy was established with the Treaty on European Union in 1993.
In 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam improved the decision-making process, including by allowing for constructive abstention (allowing an EU country to choose to abstain without blocking an initiative) and qualified majority voting (today, a vote passes if 55 % of EU countries representing at least 65 % of the total EU population vote in favour). In 1999, the European Council established the role of the High Representative for the CFSP to represent the EU in its foreign relations. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the High Representative is also a Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP).
The current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen declared the ambition to head a ‘geopolitical commission’ that ‘stabilises its neighbourhood, accelerates enlargement and champions multilateralism’. Consequently, the CFSP budget has been boosted under the 2021–2027 financial framework: external action has been allocated €98.4 billion, and security and defence €13.2 billion.
Stabilising the neighbourhood
In 2020, the HR/VP Josep Borrell noted that EU foreign policy should prioritise a response to the urgent call to stabilise its own neighbourhood, and that ‘Europe must learn quickly to speak the language of power’. Indeed the EU’s neighbourhood is marked by instability: in the south, long-term conflicts affect an ‘arc of crisis’, ranging from Libya through Syria and Türkiye, and from the threat of jihadist networks, to the challenges posed by Iran. Besides the war in Ukraine, which has signalled an unprecedented disruption of peace in Europe, the EU faces several conflicts on its eastern borders, in the Caucasus, and with autocratic regimes in Belarus and Russia. The EU’s answer to these crises includes new proposals, such as setting up a European political community.
Accelerating enlargement
The EU is not a static entity, and EU enlargement policy sets out the conditions for new countries to join the Union. In her State of the Union address in September 2022, Ursula von der Leyen confirmed EU enlargement is among her key political priorities. Proposals on reforming EU enlargement policy were presented in February 2020, aimed at boosting the process of welcoming new countries. European Council conclusions from June 2022 support the ‘gradual integration’ of new Member States.
In 2022, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova requested to join the EU, and Member States endorsed their ‘European perspective’ on 23 June. Among the six Western Balkan countries, accession negotiations are under way with Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Granted ‘candidate country’ status, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet opened accession negotiations. Kosovo is the least advanced in the process, with remaining sensitive issues, in particular, normalisation of relations with Serbia within the EU facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the application of the 2013 Brussels Agreement with Serbia, and the establishment of an association/community of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo. Foreign interference particularly by Russia and China, also remain evident in the region.
Championing multilateralism
The EU has exclusive competence in trade policy, meaning that only the EU, rather than individual member countries, can conclude trade deals between the EU and global partners. In recent years, the EU has concluded or launched bilateral trade agreements with Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as with the Mercosur South American trade bloc. Trade and technology engagement with key partners has taken new forms, such as the EU-US Trade and Technology Council created in 2021, and the agreement in June 2022 to launch the EU-India Trade and Technology Council. Engagement with Asia and the Indo-Pacific region features high on the EU agenda, with a plan of action agreed on a 2023‑2027 strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Challenges ahead
The EU faces a key challenge in developing its common European foreign policy and ensuring that EU action in the world is strategic and coherent. Today, the Council must vote unanimously on foreign policy (with the exception of certain clearly defined cases that require only a qualified majority, e.g. the appointment of special representatives). The European Council’s Sibiu meeting in May 2019 supported the need to broaden the scope of qualified majority voting (under Article 31(3) TEU, the ‘passerelle clause’ – according to which the European Council may authorise the Council to act by qualified majority in certain cases in common foreign and security policy).
Even though international relations are increasingly fragmented, the balance of power between major actors such as the United States of America and the EU, Russia and China remains an important influence. The alliance between the EU and the US reflects our shared historical experience, common values and interests. However, the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ stance precipitated a move towards the development of EU strategic autonomy and strategic culture – ‘a common way of looking at the world, of defining threats and challenges’. Initiatives such as the new European Diplomatic Academy should help to foster a common EU diplomatic culture.
Putting EU enlargement policy into action also remains challenging. Since Croatia’s accession in 2013, no further new country has joined the EU. This decline in the enlargement project could be partly due to ‘enlargement fatigue’, both in hopeful accession countries as well as in EU countries, resulting in faltering public support. This could be particularly the case in Türkiye, as accession negotiations came to a standstill in June 2018, due to serious deficiencies in the country’s democratic institutions and the human rights situation, highlighted by the European Parliament.
Despite its relatively limited formal role in EU foreign policy, Parliament nevertheless influences the conduct of CFSP indirectly, through its budgetary powers, including holding the right to amend the draft CFSP budget. In addition, international agreements concluded by the EU in the CFSP field require Parliament to be consulted and Parliament to consent (Article 218 TEU). Through its parliamentary diplomacy, Parliament plays an important role in international relations worldwide. Following the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe in 2022, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, stressed the need for reform, including in foreign and security policy: ‘The last major reform took place a generation ago … It is time’. The proposals outlined by the conference will feed into discussions on the future of the EU’s external action in an increasingly challenging geopolitical environment.
“EU has concluded bilateral trade agreements with Australia” – did I miss something? Even the link provided only points to the fact that the EU has opened negotiations with Austrial, not concluded …
Dear Jan,
you are absolutely right. Apologies for this mistake. We have now adapted the text. Thanks!