La union europea

Centro Argentino de Estudios Internacionales

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The EU as a Global Actor: “Myth or Reality?”
Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Georgetown University

by Mehmet Kalyoncu

The idea of the EU as a global actor is a myth, and it is not likely to be a reality unless the European Union undertakes a series of radicalstructural reforms. The EU’s ability to project power as a global actor in the international realm is directly related to its internal decision making structure on formulation and implementation of its foreign and security policies. In order to be a truly global actor, the European Union should integrate the second pillar into the first pillar, and accordingly increase the role of the EuropeanCommission in both formulation and implementation of the EU foreign and security policies.

The role of the European Commission in the EU external policy has increased in terms of its implementation over time, whereas it has remained quite limited in terms of its formulation. It has become more of a clerk, but not of a decision-maker. In the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) wherethe EU does not legislate and the decision making task is undertaken by the member states, the role of the Commission remains quite limited compared to that of the Council of Ministers. Nonetheless, the involvement of the European Commission in the EU external policy has increased mainly in the areas of EU enlargement and the new neighborhood policy. In addition, the Commission’s responsibilitieshave increased within the first pillar policy areas, such as budget planning and monitoring, competition policy, border control, immigration policy, and common agricultural policy, as they relate to the enlargement and the new neighborhood policy. Basically, the Commission’s role in the EU external policy has increased not in formulation but in implementation.

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Centro Argentino de EstudiosInternacionales

www.caei.com.ar

The founding principles of the European Union prevent the Commission from taking an executive role in formulation and implementation of the core EU external policy which is the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The European Commission, as Van Oudenaren puts it, is the executive body of the EU, which enjoys an exclusive right to propose legislation inmost policy areas, and works with the member states to implement and enforce EU policy and law. 1 Its main responsibility constitutes overseeing the European Union integration process. In this regards, it monitors the member states’ status with regards to their conformity to the EU laws and regulations. In case of unconformity, it possesses authority to take action to bring the member state orstates that are not complying with the EU laws and regulations to the European Court of Justice. As I will elaborate more in the following, the Commission’s involvement in the spill over policy areas also stems from its monitoring role within the union. Nonetheless, the Commission has more direct involvement in the EU enlargement policy as it prepares opinion on the EU candidate countries, andadvises to the Council of Ministers on whether the accession negotiations for those candidate countries should start or not. For instance the Council of Ministers asked in 1993 the EU Commission to prepare opinions on the post-Soviet Central and East European candidate states. Accordingly the Commission conducted questionnaires with these states and evaluated their preparedness for the EU membership.The Commission’s role in implementation of the EU external policy has increased through enlargement especially after the 2004 EU enlargement with ten new members. Consequently, the Commission’s role in the external policy will increase as it monitors the integration of these ten new member states.

Van Oudenaren, John “Uniting Europe: An Introduction to the European Union”, Rowman & Littlefield...