Who Do I Call if I Want to Speak to Europe?

The Lisbon Treaty raised high hopes concerning the European Union’s role as a global actor. The new treaty was expected to enable the Union to carry out a more effective, visible and coherent foreign policy – after all significant changes in the organisation of the external relations of the Union had taken place and with the position of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), Europe finally had the “the single phone line” once so ardently wished for by Henry Kissinger. Almost two years after the entrance into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the feelings about the new European foreign and security policy are at best mixed. Catherine Ashton is widely regarded miscast in her role as HR, the EU’s hesitant maneuvering in recent crises (e.g. Arab spring ) has been just as widely and often not mildly critisised, the development of the European External Action Service is looked on as a chaotic and sometimes irritating mystery by many outsiders and insiders alike and there are also question marks behind the role of the EU president and the role of the rotating presidency (who, officially, has no role to play on Lisbon terms regarding foreign relations). In short, there is a lot of white noise on Europe’s “single phone line”. Of course, each new treatyis followed by an inevitable transitional phase, but how much time can Europe afford to get its act together?

Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, Directorof the Europe in the World Programme at Egmont – the Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels; Visiting Professor for European Security at the College of Europe in Bruges and at Ghent University; Senior Research Associate of the Centre for European Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing
• Prof. Dr. Jan Orbie, Professor at the Department of Political Science and Co-Director of the Centre for EU Studies at Ghent University
• Dr. Louise van Schaik, Research Fellow Clingendael – Netherlands Institute for International Relations