THE EU AS A GLOBAL ACTOR

The Global Role of the EU Understanding the global role of the EU depends on how we understand power in the international system, long conventionally associated with military power and with states. Talk of a Cold War bipolar system was briefly replaced after the collapse of the Soviet Union by talk of a unipolar system based on US hegemony, but this has since been replaced with talk of a multipolar system bringing in new powers such as China and India, but curiously overlooking the EU. Depending on how we understand the international system, there is evidence of the EU emerging as a new kind of power based on liberal principles, with a preference for the use of multilateralism, civilian power, and soft rather than hard instruments of influence.

Foreign Policy Modest first steps were taken by the EEC in 1970 when the process of European Political Cooperation was inaugurated, bringing foreign ministers together at regular meetings to discuss policy. Under Maastricht, the EU agreed to ‘define and implement’ a Common Foreign and Security Policy. There still remains a lack of policy focus and leadership. Under Lisbon, a new post was created: the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The HR is charged with conducting the CFSP and ensuring the consistency of the EU’s external action.

Security & Defence Policy The EU is a more impressive military power than most people realize, but it has made only limited progress along the path to a common security policy. The end of the Cold War brought a change in the relationship between the EU and the US. The limits of EU capabilities were revealed during the 1990-1 Gulf war. In 1999, the European Security and Defence Policy set the ‘headline goal’ of EU states being able to deploy a 60,000-member Rapid Reaction Force into the field within 60 days’ notice, and being able to sustain it for one year. This was subsequently scaled down. In 2003, the European Security Strategy was the first ever joint declaration by EU member states of their strategic goals.

Trade Policy Buoyed by the size of the single market and by the near-completion of a Common Commercial Policy, the EU has become a trading superpower. The single market encouraged mergers and acquisitions across European borders and opened up more domestic trading opportunities. The result is that about 60-67% of all EU trade is now generated within the EU. Its trading power is clearly reflected in the number of disputes in which the EU has been involved within the World Trade Organization.

Trade Policy