The EU and the world : tuning to be heard

Abstract

On 28 June 2016, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini presented the “The Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy” (EUGS) to the European Council. The EUGS’ main objective is to articulate and sustain a coherent vision for the external action of the EU. As such, it sheds some light on the matter of the EU’s strategy in world affairs, its effectiveness, the variables affecting it, and Europe’s reaction to them, particularly as regards the emergence of a “strategic autonomy” as the means to pursue Europe’s goals. This chapter attempts to provide an assessment of the first three years of the EUGS by examining the EU’s relations with its major partners. We discuss the concept of strategic autonomy and how the EU’s relations with its partners contribute to this debate. In doing so, we first provide a brief overview of the EUGS and discuss what “strategic autonomy” entails. We then examine the relationship between the EU and the United States (US) in the context of NATO. We continue our analysis with EU-Russian relations, current EU-Turkish relationship, EU-China cooperation and the outlook of the Western Balkans in joining the EU. We conclude by examining Italy’s foreign policy agenda towards the EU security and defence policy and the development of a European strategic autonomy