EU Diplomacy: Measuring Success in Light of the Post-Lisbon Institutional Framework

Abstract

This paper discusses the effects of the EU’s external relations institutional framework on the conduct of its diplomacy. Drawing upon the academic writing in the field, we attempt to take a step further, examining how the post-Lisbon external relations architecture influences EU diplomacy in practice, combining legal analysis with policy-making. Our conclusion is that the new architecture has not yet managed to achieve its major objective to instill coherence, consistency and unity in EU foreign policy as prerequisites for a more prominent and, thereby, effective role of the EU on the international plane. Instead of streamlining cooperation and coordination of the different actors relevant to the conduct of EU foreign policy, it has given rise to turf battles among them in the effort to determine ad novo the power balances in this field.