Member states as strategy-maker or strategy-taker? : analysing Polish involvement in the development of the EU Global strategy

Abstract

The drafting process of the EU Global Strategy published in June 2016 has differed distinctively from the formulation of the European Security Strategy in 2003 mainly because of its consultative character. The coordination of the process was ensured by the High Representative who brokered between interests of individual Member States. Looking through the lens of deliberative intergovernmentalism, the paper examines patterns and channels of the cooperation between Poland and the EEAS throughout the strategy-making process. It attempts to shed light on the officially repeated claims on the Member States’ ownership of the document and their active participation in the consultations. The article argues that only with national diplomacies as strategy-makers, the document would have a chance to enhance the EU’s ‘will to project power’ in its neighbourhood and beyond. However, the salience of the new strategy among the high political level in the Member States reveals to be crucial for a sustainable contribution to the deliberative policy formulation.