scholarly journals A Presidência e as estratégias dos pequenos Estados: O caso português nas relações UE-África

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
António Raimundo
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
External Action ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States

The present article is based on an understanding of the rotating Presidency of the European Union (eu) as a channel of influence of special importance for smaller Member States. Its empirical focus is on Portugal’s role in eu-Africa relations, contextualising the Presidency in the broader range of strategies adopted by Portuguese authorities to exert influence in this domain of European external action. Thus, the use of the Presidency is examined in parallel with other strategies such as multilateralism, prioritization, specialization and coalition-building. Apart from contributing to a better knowledge and understanding of Portugal’s involvement in eu-Africa relations, this study helps appraising the possible relevance of future Portuguese presidencies in this realm, taking into account the important implications that the Lisbon Treaty had for the Presidency in foreign policy matters.

Lithuania and the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramūnas Vilpišauskas
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Eu

For Lithuania, the geopolitical motive to join the European Union (EU) in order to prevent a repetition of the 1940s occupation has been as important as a motive to “return to Europe.” This motivation to become part of the West led the country’s political elites to conceptualize accession into the EU as an important part of the transition reforms which were expected to modernize Lithuania’s economy, public administration, and governance as well as contribute to the country’s security and create conditions for economic catching up. Membership in the EU, accession into NATO, and good neighborly relations became the three cornerstones of Lithuania’s foreign policy since the early 1990s and enjoyed broad political support. It was this support that arguably allowed for the maintenance of political and administrative mobilization and consistency of preparations for the membership during the pre-accession process. Public support for the EU membership remained above the EU average since accession in 2004. Around the time of accession, a new concept of Lithuania as “a regional leader” was formulated by the core of the nation’s foreign policy makers. The concept of a regional leader implied active efforts of mediating between Eastern neighbors and the EU, often in coordination with Poland, which was driven by the desire to stabilize the Eastern neighborhood and advance relations between Eastern neighbors and the EU and NATO. Although coalition building within the EU has been fluctuating between a strategic partnership with Poland and Baltic-Nordic cooperation, also most recently the New Hanseatic league, attention to the Eastern neighborhood and geopolitical concerns originating from perceived aggressive Russian policies remained a defining characteristic of the country’s European policy independent of personalities and political parties, which have been at the forefront of policy making. Completion of integration into the EU, in particular in the fields of energy and transport, as well as dealing with “leftovers” from accession into the EU, such as joining the Schengen area and the euro zone, became the other priorities since 2004. Lithuania has been one of the fastest converging countries in the EU in terms of GDP per capita since its accession. However, membership in the EU Single Market also had controversial side effects. Relatively large flows of emigrants to other EU member states generated political debates about the quality of governance in Lithuania and its long-term demographic trends such as a decreasing and aging population. Introduction of the euro in 2015 was perceived by the public as the main factor behind price rises, making inflation the most important public issue in 2016–2018. High per capita income growth rates as well as the prospect of the United Kingdom exiting the EU triggered discussions about excessive dependency on EU funding, the potential effects of its decline after 2020, and sources of economic growth. There are increasingly divergent opinions regarding further deepening of integration within the EU, especially in regard to alignment of member states’ foreign and security policies as well as tax harmonization. Still, membership in the EU is rarely questioned, even by those who oppose further integration and advocate a “Europe of nations.”

Providing for European-Level Diplomacy after Lisbon: The Case of the European External Action Service

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Duke
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
External Action ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Member States ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe Lisbon Treaty may well be on ice, may perhaps even be moribund, but there remain compelling reasons to think through the identified shortcomings of the European Union in external relations. Many of the innovations in the area of external relations that are contained in the treaty are dependent upon ratification by the EU's member states, but some are not; the European External Action Service (EEAS) falls into the latter category. Although the actual implementation of the EEAS will face formidable hurdles, as has been outlined in this contribution, the exercise of thinking through these challenges is essential if the EU and its members are to begin grappling with many of the issues examined in this special issue — ranging from the role of national diplomats in today's world to the successful pursuit of structural diplomacy and the effectiveness of the EU in multilateral organizations.

scholarly journals Migration issues in the EU’s common foreign and security policy – selected aspects

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Tomasz Dubowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
External Action ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu

In the discussion on the EU migration policy, it is impossible to evade the issue of the relation between this policy and the EU foreign policy, including EU common foreign and security policy. The subject of this study are selected links between migration issues and the CFSP of the European Union. The presented considerations aim to determine at what levels and in what ways the EU’s migration policy is taken into account in the space of the CFSP as a diplomatic and political (and subject to specific rules and procedures) substrate of the EU’s external action.

scholarly journals Explaining the European Union’s Changing Position towards the Gibraltar Question after the Brexit Referendum

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4-1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Uğur Burç Yıldız İ ◽  
Anıl Çamyamaç
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
International Law ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Near Future ◽  
First Time

Abstract Having previously remained impartial on the Gibraltar question between Spain and Britain since both were member states, the European Union suddenly changed its position after the Brexit referendum in favor of the Spanish government at the expense of breaching international law. In doing so, the European Union, for the first time, created a foreign policy on the long-standing Gibraltar question. This article explores the reasons behind the creation of this foreign policy in support of Spain. The European Union feared that the idea of Euroscepticism may escalate among remaining member states after the Brexit referendum because of wide-spread claims that it would dissolve in the near future, fuelled by farright political parties. The European Union therefore created a foreign policy regarding Gibraltar in Spain’s favor in order to promote a “sense of community” for thwarting a further rise in Euroscepticism. While making its analysis, the article applies the assumption of social constructivism that ideas shape interests, which then determine the foreign policy choices of actors.

Diplomatic service of the European Union

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Okladnaya ◽  
Ivan Yakovyuk ◽  
Victoria Dyadyk
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
External Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Main Body ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
European Diplomacy

Problem setting. Today the European Union interacts with the whole world and represents the interests and values of the European community far beyond one continent. Carrying out such activities provides for the existence of effective institutions for its implementation, which today are the European External Action Service and the European Uniondelegations around the world. It significantly differs from the classical manifestations of diplomacy, which determines the relevance of research into the establishment and development of the European Union diplomatic service. Moreover, understanding the process of formation and features of European Union diplomacy is interesting for domestic researchers of European Union law given the pro-European aspirations of Ukraine. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Certain aspects of this topic have been studied by suchdomesticscientistsas F. Baranovsky, M. Hnatyuk, O. Grinenko, O. Gladenko, M. Entin, O. Opanasyuk-Radlinska, E. Ryaboshtan, D. Tkachenko, O. Turchenko, Y.Sergienko, V. Streltsova, G. Utko, O. Fisun, V. Tsivaty, V. Shamraeva, O. Shapovalova, etc. Target of research is to research the basic preconditions and features of the establishment and development of the European Union diplomatic service and its functioning in today’s conditions. Article’s main body. The article is devoted to the study of the main prerequisites and features of the establishment and development of the diplomatic service of the European Union. The authors paid attention to the coverage of the status, competence and procedure for sending the first representations of the Communities abroad, in particular the delegations of the European Commission. The changes made by the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Lisbon treaties on foreign policy are analyzed as well. All the reforms implemented by these treaties were aimed primarily at making the European Union more effective and coordinated in the international arena, and finally resolved the issue of the institutionalization of the body that deals with the European Union diplomatic service. So now it has the status of the European External Action Service and successfully performs its functions in the current conditions. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The modern European Union diplomatic service is the result of a long process of formalization and institutionalization of a whole set of its foreign policy bodies. The development of the European Union representation system shows that the spread of its representative activities has become global, as well as the dynamic transformation of the content of its goals to interact with the world in order to implement its foreign policy. However, despite the current and rapid dynamics of development and evolution of this institution, the question remains whether the European External Action Service is the final option for the external design of the European Union diplomatic service, or whether it will be another step in the process of building pan-European diplomacy.

8. EU Expansion and Wider Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on the expansion of the European Union and the widening of Europe. Enlargement is often seen as the EU's most successful foreign policy. It has extended prosperity, stability, and good governance to neighbouring countries by means of its membership criteria. However, enlargement is much more than foreign policy: it is the process whereby the external becomes internal. It is about how non-member countries become members, and shape the development of the EU itself. The chapter first compares widening and deepening before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

scholarly journals The Limits of Agencification in the European Union

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1223-1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslava Scholten ◽  
Marloes van Rijsbergen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Road ◽  
European Court ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Eu

Although not explicitly regulated by the EU treaties, EU agencies not only exist but also have increased in number and power. In addition, while EU agencies may exercise very similar functions to those of the Commission, Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) do not list agencies among the possible authors of non-legislative acts. The existing situation raises the questions of the extent to which the ongoing agencification in the EU is legitimate and what its limits are. This article addresses these questions in the light of the old and new Treaties and case law, including the just releasedESMA-shortsellingcase. It shows that while the Lisbon Treaty made a few steps forward on the road of legitimizing EU agencies and delegating important powers to them, the scope of powers that EU agencies can have remains unclear. In this respect, the European Court of Justice's lenient approach in theESMA-shortsellingcase is unfortunate because it neither clarifies the issue nor pushes the Union Legislator and the Member States to address it. Consequently, in the absence of clear limits, further agencification is likely to persist at the risk of increasing the democratic legitimacy deficit and remaining accountability gaps.

scholarly journals The Lisbon Treaty and the Accession of Turkey to the European Union

2017 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Luísa Verdelho Alves
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Adverse Outcome ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Current Member ◽  
Treaty Reform ◽  
Eu Treaty Reform ◽  
The Eu

On December 13, 2007, the Member States of the European Union (EU) signed in Lisbon a treaty amending the founding Treaties of the EU. After a troubled ratification process, due to the adverse outcome of a national referendum in Ireland, the Lisbon Treaty finally entered into force on December 1, 2009, defining a new trajectory for the EU integration process. The present article addresses the possible implications of the recent EU treaty reform to the accession of Turkey to the EU. To that end, I propose an analysis of the modifications introduced in the institutional framework of the Union and I inquire whether the legal change at this level is capable of influencing the attitude of the current Member States concerning the accession of Turkey to the EU.

scholarly journals The cultural constituent of the European Soft Power in the Republic of Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-113
Author(s):  
A.Zh. Seitkhamit ◽  
◽  
S.M. Nurdavletova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Eu

The European Union dynamically exercises various forms and methods of the Soft Power in its foreign policy. The article reviews its main principles and characteristics as well as conceptual basics. As an example, the article considers the European cultural diplomacy in the Republic of Kazakhstan as a method of soft power. The authors pay an attention specific actions of the European cultural diplomacy in Kazakhstan as well as the mechanisms of its implementation. Apart from that, cultural soft power of two European countries – France and Germany – are considered as separate actions of the EU member states in the sphere of culture. Finally, it assesses importance of Kazakhstan for the EU and effectiveness of such policy in this country.

scholarly journals Frankreich und die Türkei – Machtpoker ohne Sieger

IG ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
Ronja Kempin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Eu

In the summer of 2020, Franco-Turkish relations deteriorated dramatically. Since then, Paris has accused Ankara of deliberately influencing the Turkish diaspora in France in order to undermine the values of the French Republic. In terms of foreign policy, France criticizes Turkey for encircling the European Union (EU) and its member states with the consequence of deliberately acting against their interests. Neither the ideological nor the geopolitical power poker of the two states has produced a winner. The Franco-Turkish rivalries offer the EU the opportunity to undertake a comprehensive reorientation of its Turkey policy. The expansion of its conditionality to include domestic political issues is just as important as an improved division of roles and work in its institutions and the geopolitical view of the respective neighbourhood.

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