CER - palliative care for EU foreign policy

Another interesting briefing from the Centre for European Reform.

Charles Grant and Mark Leonard ‘How to strengthen EU foreign policy, CER, 30 May 2006

http://www.cer.org.uk/pdf/policybrief_forpol_30may06.pdf

A cogent diagnosis of the woes of EU foreign policy (lack of a common strategy or effecrive forum for reaching one – CFSP is essentially reactive and often takes form of crisis management; member states’ lack of ownership of the policy that does exist and EU foreign policy institutions that try to implement it; failure to co-ordinate policy areas; over rigorousness of financial controls on aid and democracy promotion budgets – this might being a smile to a eurosceptic’s face) focusing on lacking well co-ordinated and clear institutional mechanism to implement it (split between EU Presidency, High Representative and Commissioner for External Affairs troika; inefficiency of rotating Presidency; poor co-ordination and turf wars between Council and Commission).

The ‘solution’ sans EU Constitution – the nubs of the problem the paper addresses - and its proposed streamlining reforms according to the paper to a byzantine set of ad hoc, informal arrangement aimed at better co-ordination: more space for discussion/strategic big thinking, and ad hoc streamling through the use Commission or High Rep as an unofficial Foreign Minister in external, creation of more ‘contact groups’. I note with interest reference to Polish-Lithuania contact group on Ukraine and the suggestion that EU spending on European Initiatve on Democracy and Human Rights managed by the Commission should be diverted into a new European agency (another one!) modelled on the US NED or German Stiftungen.