European Foreign Policy

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have made clear once more the dilemma that characterizes European foreign policy: the more a high degree of coordination would be necessary, the less it is provided. Transnational terrorism, pandemics, huge and sudden flows of irregular migrants, cyber insecurities, economic insecurity, a more assertive role of illiberal powers, instability in the Middle East and North Africa, the general crisis of the liberal order are among the challenges that would deserve a more coherent, coordinated – when not unitary – EFP. Yet, these and others are also the issues on which European states are most divided. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine elevated the need for coherent action even further. The lack of a coherent foreign policy will have significant consequences for Europeans’ security and well-being. This chapter explores the structural constraints and contingent challenges that have shaped the recent developments in European foreign policy as a European system of governance in the domain of foreign policymaking; it widens out to include European states’ policies in and towards the EU and NATO; it expands further to look at Europe’s relations with its immediate neighbourhood; and it stretches finally to the international and global levels. The conclusion is that the greatest enemy of an efficient European foreign policy is inside Europe: its fragmentation.