EU leaders in foreign policy rethink

Pressure on Ashton to chart a new course; EU not regarded as a coherent actor abroad.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday (16 September) for a special summit at which much of the discussion will centre on how the EU should adjust its relations with emerging global powers.

The European Council is intended in part as preparation for an autumn full of international summits, but it may also mark a step-change for the EU’s new foreign policy. As the main institutional building blocks for the EU’s diplomatic service are falling into place, diplomats say that the meeting is intended to help move the focus to the substance of foreign policy. It may also serve to give Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, political backing as she charts a course for a more consciously European foreign policy.

For the first time since the Lisbon treaty entered into force in December, EU leaders will be joined at the Council by foreign ministers, ensuring that a wider pool of experience is present at what amounts to a brainstorming session.

Ashton will brief the attendees on her recent visit to China (29 August-3 September). Relations with the four principal emerging powers – China, Russia, India and Brazil – will dominate debate in the main session, along with discussion about the state of ties with the US.

Lack of vision

Several member states are unhappy with a perceived lack of strategic vision and political substance in many of the EU’s relationships with emerging powers and in particular with China. Member states’ diplomats complain that the various strategies prepared by the European Commission under the pre-Lisbon set-up are too general and fail to prioritise goals. Diplomats say that neither China nor Russia views the EU as a coherent foreign policy actor and that they prefer dealing with individual member states.

The discussions will be given urgency by the prospect of bilateral summits with China, India, Russia and the US this autumn.

The Council should also clarify the EU’s position for some of the other summits that lie ahead this year. These include gatherings with leaders from Asia, South Korea and from the G20 group of leading and emerging economies.

The most immediate questions, though, relate to a summit in New York on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 20-22 September. The EU will be represented there by José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, as the Commission is responsible for the EU’s development aid.

It remains unclear, though, how much of a voice the EU will have at the UN’s General Assembly, which will follow on from the MDG summit. Traditionally, the country that held the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers represented the EU and, as a recognised state, was entitled to speaking time.

Now, reflecting changes in the Lisbon treaty, the EU will be represented by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council. However, the UN member states will have to grant the EU special observer status before Van Rompuy can address the summit. An aide to Van Rompuy said that there was no back-up plan should this not happen.