Quo vadis European foreign policy? : a decade of the European external action service

Abstract

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the European Union External Action Service (EEAS), which was established by the Treaty of Lisbon and started operating in January 2011. Since then, the European Union’s diplomatic service has been helping the EU’s foreign affairs chief carry out the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and played a unique role as the interface between Europe and the wider world. But the record of this first decade of operation is mixed: Significant institutional and diplomatic achievements have been undermined by limitations to the EU’s capability to act, which in turns hampers the Union’s standing on the global stage. This session will highlight structural problems and lessons learnt. It will also look at future developments, analysing the much-debated concept of “strategic” autonomy, and trying to determine the contribution that the EEAS could give to affirming the EU’s role as global actor.