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On Foreign Policy—The imperative for the EU to become a serious foreign political player in the 21st century or to be side-lined in the Great Game

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Notes

  1. Dobbs, Michael: A Sentimental Traitor, London 2012, p. 74.

  2. For the development of the CFSP from the Treaties of Rome up to the Treaty of Lisbon cf. Fischer, Klemens H.: Die Entwicklung des Europäischen Vertragsrechts – Von den Römischen Verträgen bis zum Vertrag von Lissabon, 2. Auflage, Baden-Baden – Wien – Bern 2016 (Fischer 2016).

  3. OJ No L 169/1 of 29.06.1987.

  4. Cameron, Fraser: An Introduction to European Foreign Policy, London 2007, p. 24 f.

  5. Cameron, p. 28.

  6. Fischer (2016), p. 80 f.

  7. For the general and specific provisions regarding the EU’s foreign policy cf. Fischer, Klemens H.: Der Vertrag von Lissabon, 2. Auflage, Baden-Baden – Wien – Bern 2010 (Fischer 2010). For a general overview cf. https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/foreign-security-policy_en. For the specific role of the European Parliament cf. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/158/foreign-policy-aims-instruments-and-achievements.

  8. European Union: A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign And Security Policy—Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe, Brussels 2016.

  9. European Union: A Global Strategy, p. 10.

  10. European Union: From Shared Vision to Common Action: Implementing the EU Global Strategy—Year 1, Brussels 2017.

  11. Currently, the United States are the most active player in foreign and security political issues and they are voicing strong opinions on multiple European affairs. We will therefore concentrate on the US’ impact on the EU’s CFSP. Nevertheless, we shall ask ourselves if the exercised restraint of the two other powers China and Russia is an opinion on its own.

  12. We shall take that comparison without judgement but as a challenge.

  13. Whereas the Union displays noble reserve.

  14. Brendan Taylor shows the different approach of the US and the EU regarding the imposition of sanctions on Iran, in particular the extreme complexity of the internal EU process (Taylor, Brendan: Sanctions as Grand Strategy, Oxon 2010, p. 73 ff.).

  15. For a compact analysis of the loss of economic power and its consequences for the global positioning of the EU cf. Andreatta, Filippo/Zambernardi, Lorenzo: The European Union as a Power, in: Hill, Christopher/Smith, Michael/Vanhoonacker (Eds): International Relations and the European Union, 3rd Edition, Oxford 2017, p. 74–93.

  16. Mike Rosenberg even calls it “military impotence” (Rosenberg, Mike: Strategy and Geopolitics—Understanding Global Complexity in a Turbulent World, Bingley 2017, p 82). Rosenberg gives some examples that shall support his verdict. In a pure military sense, he might be right, as the EU as an organisation does not have a military wing to date but that view is too simplistic. The limits to engage the Union in a military conflict are clearly laid down in the Treaties, out-of-area-actions without an UN mandate—for which Mr Rosenberg is strongly advocating—are hardly rectifiable.

  17. For an overview of the EU Council’s initiatives on Syria cf. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/de/policies/syria/ and Fischer, Klemens H.: Die Organe der EU als Rechtswertehüter am Beispiel der Reaktionen des Europäischen Rates auf die Vorgänge in Nordafrika und im Nahen Osten seit dem Arabischen Frühling, in: Pichler, Johannes W. (Hrsg): Rechtswertestiftung und Rechtswertebewahrung in Europa, Wien – Graz 2015, p. 105–123.

  18. The Economist, August 18th–24th 2018, p. 24.

  19. Kagan, Robert: Paradise and Power—America and Europe in the New World Order, London 2003, p. 3.

  20. Cooper, Robert: The Breaking of Nations—Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century, London 2003, p. 85.

  21. Blackwill, Robert D./Harris, Jennifer M.: War by Other Means—Geoeconomics and Statecraft, London, 2016, p. 49 ff.

  22. Baldwin, James: “As Much Truth As One Can Bear” in The New York Times Book Review (14 January 1962), in: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin.

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  1. Ständige Vertretung Österreichs bei der Europäischen Union, Avenue de Cortenbergh 30, 1040, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Klemens H. Fischer

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Correspondence to Klemens H. Fischer.

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Fischer, K.H. On Foreign Policy—The imperative for the EU to become a serious foreign political player in the 21st century or to be side-lined in the Great Game. Z Politikwiss 28, 323–330 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41358-018-0155-y

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