Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 08/2010

Looking afresh at the external representation of the EU in the international arena

Michael Emerson, Piotr Maciej Kaczyński

July 2010

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

What would the EU need to do to its external representation to be effectively equipped as a global international actor in the emerging multi-polar world? In general, an extensive ‘upgrade' of the EU's external representation is required, since the EU often languishes in the observer ranks even where its competences may be substantial. This is a highly complex field, however - politically, legally and institutionally - and any attempt to formulate operational recommendations will have to be finely tuned to many different specific situations.