Decision-Making in European External Policy

This is a study of the European Union’s external decision-making processes and the present debate which surrounds them. It considers in turn three main elements of these processes, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the External Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and the Common Commercial Policy (CCP). The opportunities and challenges for the European Union’s position in the wider world are similar in each area, but each case study presents sufficient aspects peculiar to itself to justify separate treatment. In all three sections, a brief historical review will lead into a discussion of recent institutional and political developments. Inevitably, the
work of the European Constitutional Convention, the Intergovernmental Conference which followed it and the new situation created by the French and Dutch referendums will be at the heart of this discussion. The three principal topics have all figured prominently in this complex series of debates and events. The study will conclude with a series of recommendations arising in from the events and circumstances described. Between the consideration of recent developments and the recommendations is an analysis of the broader geo-political context against which the largely institutional discussion can best be understood. The study ends with a section of concluding reflections from the authors.