The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor

228 Pages·2015·1.24 MB·English

by  Joachim A. Koops

‘This volume provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the EU’s
growing role as a diplomatic actor, covering policies, processes and outcome
in key foreign policy fields. It is one of the first attempts to systematically
evaluate the build-up of the EU’s diplomatic capacity in the post-Lisbon
era and is therefore a must-read for all interested in recent changes of EU
diplomatic actorness. I find the volume’s ambition to link the changing
diplomatic role of the EU to the changing nature of modern diplomacy
especially interesting.’
— Ole Elgström, Professor of Political Science,
Lund University, Sweden
‘As one of the most complex and constantly evolving international actors
on the planet, the EU poses a major challenge for those interested in under-
standing its global purpose and political capabilities. Different perspectives
and conceptual tools are often necessary to complete the picture, and this
volume combines both in a wide-ranging treatment of how the EU behaves
as a diplomatic actor. It also draws upon insights from both practitioners
and scholars to explain the considerable variance across different EU for-
eign policy domains despite the best efforts of the EU to make itself more
coherent.’
— Michael E. Smith, Professor and Chair in International Relations,
University of Aberdeen, Scotland
‘Based on contributions by an excellent international team consisting of both
senior and junior academics as well as knowledgeable practitioners, this incisive
volume both fills a vacuum and provides the most up to date overview of the
growing role of the EU as a diplomatic actor in the post-Lisbon era.’
— Walter Carlsnaes, Senior Professor (emeritus),
Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden
‘This volume underlines that the role of the EU within the emerging multipo-
lar and fragmented world is slowly gaining in importance after the Treaty
of Lisbon (2009) – despite external obstacles as well as internal deficits of
consistency and coherence. The action of the EU as an unprecedented diplo-
matic actor and of the EEAS are analysed in an accurate and comprehensive
way in the main policy fields of trade, human rights, climate change, and
finance, with special attention given to the EU’s impact within multilateral
organizations and regimes. This panel of contributors offers fresh analyses
and contributes to enriching the literature on a crucial issue in EU studies
and international relations.’
— Mario Telò, Emeritus President IEE, Professor on International Relations
at ULB and LUISS, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences
The European Union in International Affairs series
Series Editors: Sebastian Oberthür is a Professor and Academic Director of the Institute
of European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium. Knud Erik Jørgensen is a
Professor in the Department of Political Science and Government, Aarhus University,
Denmark. Alex W arleigh- Lack* is Executive Director of the Centre for Research on
the European Matrix (CRONEM) and Professor of EU Politics at the University of
Surrey, UK. Sandra Lavenex is Professor of International Politics at the University
of Lucerne, Switzerland and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Natolin
(Warsaw). Philomena Murray is Jean Monnet Professor in the School of Social and
Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Editorial board: Stephanie Anderson; Ummu Salma Bava; Grainne de Burca;
Maurizio Carbone; Roy H. Ginsberg; Amelia Hadfi eld; Stephan Keukeleire; Andrés
Malamud; Sophie Meunier; Michael H. Smith; Ramses Wessel and Reuben Wong.
Thanks to consecutive rounds of enlargement and the stepwise broadening and deep-
ening of internal integration, the EU now undeniably plays a key role in international
politics, law and economics. At the same time, changes in the international system
continue to pose new challenges to the EU. The range of policies implied by the EU’s
international ‘actorness’ grows with every summit, and the EU regularly ‘imports’ and
increasingly ‘exports’ various policies.
Against this backdrop, this book series aims to be a central resource for the growing
community of scholars and p olicy- makers interested in understanding the interface
between the EU and international affairs. It will provide i n- depth, c utting- edge con-
tributions to research on the EU in international affairs by highlighting new develop-
ments, insights, challenges and opportunities. It will encompass analyses of the EU’s
international role, as mediated by its own Member States, in international institutions
and in its strategic bilateral and regional partnerships. It will further examine the
ongoing profusion of EU internal policies with external implications and the ways
in which these are both driven by and feed back into international developments.
Grounded in political science (and its various s ub- disciplines, including International
Relations and International Political Economy), law, sociology and history, the series
refl ects an inter- disciplinary commitment.
Titles include:
Frauke Austermann
EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATIONS IN EU FOREIGN POLICY
A Diplomatic Service of Different Speeds
Natalie Chaban and Martin Holland
COMMUNICATING EUROPE IN TIMES OF CRISIS
External Perceptions of the European Union
Joachim A. Koops and Gjovalin Macaj (editors)
THE EUROPEAN UNION AS A DIPLOMATIC ACTOR
Alexander Matt elaer
THE P OLITICO- MILITARY DYNAMICS OF EUROPEAN CRISIS RESPONSE OPERATIONS
Planning, Friction, Strategy
Luis Simon
GEOPOLITICAL CHANGE, GRAND STRATEGY AND EUROPEAN SECURITY
The EU- NATO Conundrum
Louise G. van Schaik
EU EFFECTIVENESS AND UNITY IN MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS
More than the Sum of Its Parts?
Forthcoming titles include:
Dimitrios Bourantonis, Spyros Blavoukos and Clara Portela (editors)
THE EU AND THE NON- PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
*Alex Warleigh- Lack, is currently on leave as an editor of the series
The European Union in International Affairs series.
Series standing order ISBN 978– 1–137– 00500– 7 (cased)
Series standing order ISBN 978– 1–137– 00501– 4 (paperback)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing
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The European Union as a
Diplomatic Actor
Edited by
Joachim A. Koops
Dean, Vesalius College and Research Professor, Institute for European Studies,
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
and
Gjovalin Macaj
St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK
Selection, introduction and editorial matter © Joachim A. Koops and Gjovalin Macaj 2015
Foreword © Pierre Vimont 2015
Individual chapters © Respective authors 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-35684-0
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-47064-8 ISBN 978-1-137-35685-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137356857
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The EU as a diplomatic actor / edited by Joachim Koops, Dean and Research Professor,
Vesalius College and Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium ;
Gjovalin Macaj, PhD Candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations, University
of Oxford, UK.
pages cm
Summary: “This volume assesses the European Union (EU) as a ‘Diplomatic Actor’ in key foreign
policy fields in the post-Lisbon era. It brings together leading scholars and practitioners in order
to examine the main players, processes and outcomes of the EU’s collective diplomatic engagement
in the fields of security, human rights, trade and finance and environmental politics. In addition,
the collection also analyses institutional developments and the EU’s responses to major internal
and external challenges in the context of international politics and global diplomacy. It provides
the first comprehensive overview of the scope, nature and impact of the EU’s growing role as a
diplomatic actor and offers a comparative analysis of EU diplomacy in bilateral, multilateral and
international fora. By taking stock of the successes and failures of EU diplomacy, this volume
identifies the main internal and external conditions that shape the EU’s influence in global
affairs.”—Provided by publisher.
1. European Union—Foreign relations. 2. Diplomacy. 3. International relations.
I. Koops, Joachim Alexander. II. Macaj, Gjovalin.
JZ1570.A5E854 2014
327.4—dc23
2014023273
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Foreword by Pierre Vimont, Secretary-General,
European External Action Service, European Union x
Acknowledgements xiii
Notes on Contributors xiv
List of Abbreviations xvii
1 Introduction: The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor 1
Joachim A. Koops and Gjovalin Macaj
2 The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in the P ost- Lisbon Era: Robust or
Rootless Hybrid? 11
Michael H. Smith
3 EU Diplomacy in Global Governance: The Role of the European
External Action Service 31
Knud Erik Jørgensen
4 Evaluating the Impact of EU Diplomacy: Pitfalls and Challenges 52
Yvonne Kleistra and Niels van Willigen
5 Diplomacy at the Individual Level: The Role of EU Special
Representatives in European Foreign Policy 69
Dominik Tolksdorf
6 Speak Up! Getting the EU a Voice at the UN
General Assembly 88
Fernando Andresen Guimarães
7 The EU as a Coercive Diplomatic Actor?
The EU- 3 Initiative towards Iran 103
Tom Sauer
8 The EU’s Role and Performance within the G20
in the Area of Finance and Development 120
Peter Debaere
9 The European Union as an International Trade Negotiator 138
Frank Hoffmeister
vii
viii Contents
10 The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in the Field of Human Rights 155
Karen E. Smith
11 The European Union’s Climate Change Diplomacy 178
Simon Schunz
Index 202
List of Figures and Tables
Figure
3.1 Elite attitudes to foreign policy 41
Tables
4.1 Evaluating the impact of the EU’s non- proliferation policy 55
7.1 Chronological overview of main events with respect
to Iranian nuclear programme 106
10.1 The EU’s ‘voice’ at the HRC 167
10.2 EU unity in voting 168
10.3 Resolutions or decisions sponsored by the EU at the HRC 169
11.1 EU diplomatic activities in the post- 2012 climate negotiations 187
ix
Foreword
I would like to pay sincere tribute to the authors of this edited volume we
have in front of us today. By deciding to carry out a thorough study of the
EU as a diplomatic actor they have, in my opinion, positioned themselves
right at the heart of the matter of EU foreign policy. In other words, their
work points exactly to where the problem lies, and where – if there is ever
to be a common foreign policy for the EU – progress needs to be made
and a new mind-set must progressively but steadily find its way into our
institutional framework.
The whole problématique examined by this study dates back to the origins
of the European Union at a time when Member States were eager not to
let EU institutions – and more specifically the European Commission – get
involved in anything related to traditional diplomatic action. The compe-
tence of the then European Community in the field of external action was
strictly restricted to trade, development and later on human rights. But the
heart of foreign policy, namely geo-strategic vision and its implementa-
tion, remained within the firm control of Member States and their national
diplomatic services. Hence, among many other consequences, was the
developm ent of a ‘communautaire mentality’ and an administrative culture in
which European institutions were mostly considered as payers and not players,
and dragged into external initiatives that more often than not lacked political
perspectives and political vision. Not because of any inherent institutional
incapacity, but because of the way in which the whole architecture of the
European system had been designed, the national diplomats were left with
managing the grand political vision and traditional diplomatic ‘games’
while the Commission was given the role of the management expert dedi-
cated to promoting development and cooperation policies. The system of
rotating presidencies only exacerbated this cumbersome division, as suc-
cessive Presidencies of the Union all too eagerly emphasised through the
promotion of their own priorities that changed every six months.
It is only with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty that this state of play
was completely revised, with the abolition of the pillar system, the emphasis
on a comprehensive approach in external affairs and, most importantly,
the establishment of the function of the High Representative and Vice
President for foreign and security policy and the creation of the European
External Action Service. Thereafter, there was no division between the dif-
ferent strands of EU external action; on the contrary, one single personality
was now in charge of coordinating this whole sector, assisted by a European
diplomatic service in charge of promoting new principles of consistency,
x