EUobserver opinion: Opinion: A 10-step plan to making the EU a strategic actor

Leiden - The European Union’s awkward efforts to shape events in Ukraine and to deter Russia from taking actions that threaten the EU’s interests and values there, like the EU’s massive failures in the former Yugoslavia two decades ago, yield one undeniable lesson: the European Union must learn to think and act strategically.

Given Russia’s new assertiveness and the inevitability of the United States’ ‘pivot to Asia’ over the next few decades, the urgency of this challenge cannot be overestimated.

Some observers of EU foreign and security policy argue that the EU is condemned to strategic irrelevance as long as it remains a union of states rather than a single state.

There is undoubtedly some truth here: 28 (or more) governments, foreign ministries, defense ministries, and national electorates do not facilitate easy consensus in policy-formation or consistent policy-implementation, not to mention rapid reaction to fast-moving crises.

And treaty change to give the EU a single foreign policy identity is simply not on the agenda for the foreseeable future.

But the Lisbon Treaty and the EU’s External Action Service would enable the Union to be a far more effective strategic actor if its member states were truly committed to this goal. The first step in this direction is being clear about what the EU’s institutions and member states could do, within current treaty conditions, to make the Union a more effective strategic actor.

• 1. 

  Be far-sighted and realistic about the EU’s interests and values.
• 2. 

  Don’t confuse foreign policy and enlargement policy.
• 3. 

  Be realistic about the adversaries that the EU faces abroad
• 4. 

  Be realistic about the foreign partners whose cooperation the EU needs to achieve its aims.
• 5. 

  Don’t over-estimate Europe’s appeal abroad.
• 6. 

  Be pragmatic about the EU’s resources and capabilities.
• 7. 

  Be less didactic in the application of EU power.
• 8. 

  Minimize dependencies that limit the EU’s freedom of action, particularly dependencies on states that are not trustworthy partners.
• 9. 

  Avoid self-inflicted injuries.
• 10. 

  Be pro-active about building and maintaining internal support for EU action abroad.

The writer is Professor of International Relations at Leiden University and editor of Making EU Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan). d.c.thomas@fsw.leidenuniv.nl