Loughborough - Research Project
6. Formal and informal Mechanisms of Cooperation in EU External Relations: the Council and ‘European Diplomacy’
Supervisors: Professor David Allen (Email: D.J.Allen@lboro.ac.uk) & Professor Michael Smith (Email: M.H.Smith@lboro.ac.uk), Loughborough University
PhD: Jost Morgenstern (Email: j.morgenstern@lboro.ac.uk)
PhD: Nikola Tomic (Email: tomichaubg@yahoo.com)
Short project description: A key element in the external relations of the European Union is the development of a ‘European diplomatic system’ in which EU and national institutions and officials are charged with working together. In this development, the Council of the EU has taken a pivotal role, as the institutional context for the coordination of diplomacy among the Member States and also as the central base for the development of ‘European foreign policy’ through the High Representative, Special Representatives and other formations. As a result, a ‘European diplomatic system’ has grown up around the Council, in which processes of formal and informal coordination each play a role, and in which CFSP and ESDP are core concerns. The development of this system raises key questions about formal and informal governance mechanisms and about the relationship between diplomacy and governance in a ‘hybrid’ context. This development has, if anything, been made more complex by the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which seeks to enhance the links between the Council based CSP/ESDP system, described above, and the European Commission by the development of an European External Action Service (EEAS) and by combining the roles of the High Representative and the Relex Commisioner. The new High Representaive ( Baroness Ashton) is a Vice President of the Commission and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Council as well as being responsible for the creation and leadership of the EEAS – a true challenge for inter-instutitional coordination. This PhD project will explore the ways in which the ‘European diplomatic system’ has evolved and can be conceptualised, and will investigate its operation in a series of CFSP and ESDP issue areas involving a range of official and other representatives, with the aim of identifying key problems of coordination and the ways in which they have or have not been addressed at the level of the Council.
Links with other partners and projects: This research will link strongly with a parallel research project at the University of Maastricht on the Commission, and will thus form a basis for comparison at the institutional level and for further research on inter-institutional cooperation between these two bodies. It will also link with other work being undertaken by Professors Allen, Smith and Hocking both within the Centre for the Study of International Governance at Loughborough University and within the Jean Monnet Network which is examining the Diplomatic System of the European Union.