bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The European Parliament as an International Parliamentary Institution (IPI)
Authors: Stavridis Stelios , Cofelice Andrea
Published: April 2022

Interest in the role of International Parliamentary Institutions (IPIs) remains extremely limited, especially if one considers their growing numbers, functions, and importance in the international relations of a globalizing world. This article aims at contextualizing the European Parliament (EP)'s international role according to the IPIs literature, by asking whether the EP can be included in comparative studies on IPIs or, on the contrary, if it should rather be considered a 'sui generis' phenomenon - because of its role in European Union (EU) integration and the scope of its powers. Our argument is that the EP can (and should) be included in comparative studies on IPIs, at least for two different reasons: (i) by exploring conditions under which IPIs are established and empowered; (ii) by analysing the EP's external relations. As a result, both the literature on IPIs and that on the external dimension of the EP will be enriched and allow for more, including synergetic, work in areas where there still is a clear academic gap. Accordingly, there will be three different sections. The first section will offer the background empirical description of what IPIs are, what their historical evolution has been, as well what are the more relevant definitions and categorizations offered by the literature to date. In the following section, the main argument will be developed, through the operationalization of IPIs' different powers. After a brief presentation of the specific tools that the EP has been developing over the years in its external relations, the third section will focus on its inter-parliamentary assemblies. Finally, the conclusions will sum up some general findings, as well as identify a number of possible avenues for future research on the role of IPIs in world affairs.
Is There A Strategic Partnership between the EU and China?
Authors: Men Jing
Published: April 2022

Since 2003, both the EU and China have addressed each other as 'strategic partner', however, observers have noticed many problems in bilateral relations. As a matter of fact, after a short so-called honeymoon period in 2003 and 2004, the two experienced a long period of reflection and adjustment. Why are there many problems between the two? What is the nature of the EU-China partnership? What have the EU and China been doing to further develop cooperation? How will bilateral relationship evolve in the future? This article tries to find answers to these questions by examining the convergence and divergence between the two sides and to study the prospects for EU-China relations in the twenty-first century.
EU Soft Power with China: Technical Assistance in the Field of Intellectual Property Rights
Authors: Crookes Paul C. Irwin
Published: April 2022

This article argues that the technical assistance programmes of the EU have been amongst the most effective soft power instruments in shaping the influence that Europe has had within key actor communities during China's re-emergence. The IPR2 project is one such example of this phenomenon. The article locates this initiative within the context of joint interests as an intersection between the EU's motivations in embedding a more sophisticated approach across China towards the importance of intellectual property protection and China's needs to improve her own domestic level of innovation. This method of cooperation is an illustration of normative transference through diffusion and shows how engagement can move beyond a narrow notion of soft power to encompass more wide-ranging interpretations that highlight the importance of a nation's technological capability and the influence possessed by a country's scientific achievement. The success of IPR2 is examined in two ways: first, through qualitative analysis of political dimensions in its formation and outcome, and second, in quantitative terms through reviewing increased IP activism by Chinese institutional and corporate actors. The article concludes by maintaining that engagement strategies of this kind offer a model for future relations and deserve sustained political support.
Approximation of Laws under the European Neighbourhood Policy: The Challenges that Lie Ahead
Authors: Harpaz Guy
Published: April 2022

The initial, ambitious agenda of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), coupled with its ten years of operation, raised expectations for comprehensive approximation with resultant significant socio-economic reforms. Yet the initial high hopes for a systematic regulatory and legislative alignment were not realized. The article's purpose is to offer a typology and analysis of the various factors that render it more difficult to attain this strategic objective of the ENP, underscoring the limits of the Law in serving a transformative role.
EUFOR RCA and CSDP Crisis Management Operations: Back on Track?
Authors: Van Meirvenne Melanie , Haesebrouck Tim
Published: April 2022

Between 2008 and 2013, both the number and scale of operations deployed through the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) shrank significantly. This loss of appetite for EU-led operations not only contrasted starkly with the gluttony displayed during the preceding five years, but also with the Member States' willingness to keep launching operations through other frameworks. At first glance, the launch of the ambitious EUFOR RCA operation in April 2014 seemed to signal the end of this downward pattern, and possibly even a return to the activism of the first five years of EU-led deployments. This article argues the latter scenario is very unlikely. After describing the evolution in the number and scale of CSDP operations, it identifies three impediments that are to blame for the downward pattern in EU-led deployments: the lack of adequate military capabilities, the absence of permanent headquarters and, most importantly, the failure to identify clear strategic objectives for the CSDP. It subsequently argues that the run-up to EUFOR RCA proved that these obstacles are still in place, and evaluates recent efforts at remedying them. From this, it concludes that these impediments are unlikely to be resolved in the near future, making it implausible for EUFOR RCA to be the start of a period of increased operational activity under the CSDP.
The European Union and Civilian Crisis Management after Lisbon
Authors: Pirozzi Nicoletta
Published: April 2022

This article aims at analysing the strengths and shortfalls of the European Union (EU) Civilian Crisis Management (CCM) system after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty introduced a number of important innovations at the strategic, institutional and operational level that have the potential to produce a significant impact on the way in which the EU addresses today's complex crises and defines its role in the international security environment. The article starts out with a review of the origin and evolution of the EU as a civilian crisis manager actor, with a view to point out the main steps, concrete achievements and remaining gaps on the eve of the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. The second part focuses on the assessment of the Lisbon Treaty's innovations in the CCM system in terms of institutions, mechanisms and capabilities. The following section is dedicated to the evaluation of the experience on the ground, conducted through the identification of the main trends of CCM after Lisbon. The analysis relies on the study of the civilian missions launched by the EU since 2012: EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Nestor, EUAVSEC South Sudan and, more recently, EUBAM Libya, EUCAP Sahel Mali and EUAM Ukraine. The last part offers some policy recommendations for the EU in order to improve its performance in the field of CCM through improved strategies, institutional set-up, operational planning and capability development.
Member States Resistance to EU Foreign Policy Sanctions
Authors: Portela Clara
Published: April 2022

European Union (EU) sanctions are agreed in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), a framework where the unanimity rule prevails and where individual Member States have a formal veto. Thus, Member State compliance with sanctions can be expected to be optimal: If Member States have serious objections to the imposition of sanctions, they can veto their adoption in the Council. Yet, while implementation is comparatively satisfactory, Member States have availed of opportunities to undermine the application of EU sanctions regimes at various levels. On the basis of the theoretical framework provided by Saurugger and Terpan, the present article explores various ways in which Member States attempt to resist EU measures, categorizes them and explains Member States’ choice of resistance techniques.
Lost in Transformation: Explaining the EUs Non-adaptive Approach to Regional Conflicts
Authors: Faleg Giovanni , Scherwitz Eva
Published: April 2022

This article accounts for the EU’s failure to implement a strategy of Conflict Transformation (CT) through Regional Integration (RI) in four selected regions: Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

As a normative power, the EU has traditionally acted as a promoter of regional integration, with an underlying view of reducing regional conflicts. The academic literature, however, has failed to assess the exact role of the ‘RI-CT nexus’1 in the EU’s foreign policy toolbox, as well as its outcomes. To fill this gap, our study investigates the degree to which the RI-CT strategy is perceived by EU practitioners as a key deliverable and what concrete measures or influence paths have been implemented by the EU. We show that the EU has made use of four main types of influence paths in order to transform regional conflict dynamics. Nevertheless, our findings also demonstrate that RI developments within the different regions and, in particular, negative regional responses, progressively led EU practitioners to adapt and develop a behaviour of self-restraint.
An Incompetent Actor? Assessing EU External Migration Policy
Authors: Reslow Natasja
Published: April 2022

2015 has seen thousands of migrants undertake desperate and risky journeys across the Mediterranean in order to try to reach Europe. Cooperation with non-EU countries has been emphasized in policy documents as an essential tool in managing these migration flows. However, this presupposes that the EU is able to act deliberately and purposively in international migration governance. Building on the literature on EU external relations, this article assesses the actorness of the EU in international migration governance in terms of authority, existence of policy instruments, policy determinacy, coordination mechanisms, rules of participation in international institutions, recognition by third countries, autonomy of the EU institutions, and cohesion. It concludes that legal competence is central to the ability of the EU to play a role in international migration governance.
EU Energy Security beyond Ukraine: Towards Holistic Diversification
Authors: Proedrou Filippos
Published: April 2022

The aim of the article is to explore the risks emanating from the EU’s gas security architecture, based on the twin pillars of diversification and enforced interdependence, in the context and aftermath of the crisis in Ukraine. Interdependence with external suppliers has been hit hard by the diversification rhetoric and rationale and given a crucial blow with the fallout in Ukraine and Russia’s opening to the East. Diversification, on the other hand, has added resilience to the EU gas market, but far from ensures the EU’s gas security in the mid- to long-term. The article thus argues that energy security is in need of a broader and more pragmatic understanding of diversification that will critically expand to renewables, energy conservation and efficiency. The pressing sustainability needs add further urgency to the switch from supply- to demand-side energy policies.
The EUs Comprehensive Approach as the Dominant Discourse: A Corpus-Linguistics Analysis of the EUs Counter-Piracy Narrative
Authors: Germond Basil , Marchi Anna , McEnery Tony
Published: April 2022

Using corpus linguistics techniques, this article discusses the EU’s comprehensive approach narrative in the context of counter-piracy at the Horn of Africa. It shows that (1) the comprehensive approach is systematically put forward by the EU in its counter-piracy discourse, (2) this approach is presented as the best (if not the unique) and normal way to deal with the problem, and (3) the EU claims the paternity of this approach and attributes successes to its own activities and approach. The article demonstrates that the EU uses the comprehensive approach narrative to showcase its positive and unique contribution as a global security actor and to normalize its power projection practice. This case study also contributes to demonstrate that the comprehensive approach tends to achieve discursive dominance at the EU level. By integrating interpretative framework from the field of International Relations (IR) with the empirical, data driven descriptions that corpus linguistics analysis provides this article makes an original contribution to European foreign policy studies and contributes to the methodological enrichment of the discipline.
Introduction: New Challenges for the European Union in the Arab Mediterranean and the Revision of the European Neighbourhood Policy
Authors: Shteiwi Musa , Seeberg Peter
Published: April 2022

This Introduction presents a conceptual framework for the Thematic Issue of European Foreign Affairs Review and sets the analytical scene for the contributions. The point of departure for the articles is the launching of a comprehensive review of the European Neighbourhood Policy 18 November 2015. The review emphasizes that ongoing transition processes are affecting the Mediterranean states, leading to a complex and differentiated Middle Eastern reality, which challenges the EU and calls for a rethinking of European foreign and security policies. A key notion of the review is the term ‘stabilization’ and it is underlined that causes of instability not only can be found within a traditional security domain, but also should be traced back to weak economic and social development, migration, lack of opportunities, etc. The Introduction discusses theoretical paradigms of relevance for analysing recent perspectives of EU-Mediterranean cooperation.
The European Unions Engagement in Conflict Processes and Conflict Spillovers: The Case of Lebanon Since the Onset of the Syrian War
Authors: Fakhoury Tamirace
Published: April 2022

The article explores the European Union’s (EU) conflict response to Lebanon in the wake of Syria’s war and its spillover effects. Seeking to boost the polity’s ‘resilience’, the EU has deployed resources and strategies to stabilize the country, enhance its social cohesion and promote ‘effective governance’. The EU has furthermore integrated Lebanon in its broader response to the outcomes of the Arab uprisings and the Syrian conflict. While the EU has become more attuned to Lebanon’s conflict environment, it has had limited effectiveness in handling Lebanon’s conflict processes against the benchmark of its declared goals. The EU’s realist-normative dilemmas and inability to address Lebanon’s core issues of contention emerge as constraining factors. The bloc is more effective in mitigating short-term strains through cooperating with the government on convergent interests such as security and refugee governance than playing an impactful role in conflict resolution.
Accession of Iceland to the European Union: A Failure Beyond Repair?
Authors: Kobza Piotr
Published: April 2022

The EU membership negotiations of Iceland (2009–2013), suspended sine die by Reykjavik after the parliamentary elections to the Althingi in the spring of 2013, were commonly assessed as unsuccessful mainly due to specificities of Iceland as a Nordic country, wary of the European integration and whose economic interests were hardly in line with relevant EU legislation. The present article tries to balance the picture insofar as it concentrates on the conduct of the accession process of Iceland to the EU seen from the ‘Brussels’ side, and tries to answer if the process was conducted by the EU with enough leadership and energy. It also gives some recommendations as to a possibility to relaunch the process.
The EU and the Negotiation of Global Development Norms: The Case of Aid Effectiveness
Authors: Kim Soyeun , Lightfoot Simon
Published: April 2022

The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping global development norms. By examining the EU normative leadership role in the Busan Forum on Aid Effectiveness using four leadership categories we argue that the EU could be seen to be playing a more subtle leadership role than in previous aid summits, reflecting some issues regarding the ability of the EU to construct and support unified agendas in this field, but also showing some evidence of having learnt from other international summits, such as the Copenhagen climate change summit, and adapting its position towards the emerging donors accordingly. This case study both inform our understanding of the EU’s global leadership in development aid but also adds to the growing literature on the EU’s relations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) and the relationship between the DAC and the so-called Non-DAC donors.
Legal Creativity in EU External Relations: The Stabilization and Association Agreement Between the EU and Kosovo
Authors: Van Elsuwege Peter
Published: April 2022

This article puts the specific features of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and Kosovo in perspective. In particular, it analyses how the unsolved issue of Kosovo’s recognition affects the scope and content of the agreement. For this purpose, the SAA with Kosovo is compared to the SAA with Serbia. Despite the at first sight comparable structure of both agreements, the absence of mixity in the SAA with Kosovo as well as the reservations regarding its international legal status lead to a number of noticeable differences, in particular as far as the rules regarding entry and residence of Kosovo nationals are concerned.
The EU and Jordan: Aligning Discourse and Practice on Democracy Promotion?
Authors: Mezagopian Madeleine , Jonasson Ann-Kristin
Published: April 2022

This article analyses whether there has been an alignment between discourse and practice on democracy promotion in the EU’s approach to Jordan since the 2011 Arab uprisings. The analysis shows that what has often been described as a gap between the EU’s discourse and practice on democracy promotion seems to have narrowed, if not closed altogether, in Jordan. The normative discourse has become less high-flown in line with the new Global Strategy and the ENP Review, which both focus less on ‘common’ values and more on interests and what values the EU wishes to promote. Funding has become more targeted on more specific policy objectives related to democratic reform. The consequences of this seemingly new approach remain to be seen.
Communicating Europe Beyond Its Borders: Imagining the EU in Ukraine post-Maidan
Authors: Chaban Anatoliy , Chaban Natalia
Published: April 2022

Multiple crises in the EU are assumed to impact EU external images in general, and in Ukraine specifically. Our article asks if these crises are only short time-span variations with limited implications for longer term EU perceptions in Ukraine. To answer this question, our article turns to the concepts of spatial and historical distances (Braudel 1982, Didelon-Loiseau and Grasland 2014) and argues two interacting sets of factors behind EU images in Ukraine – spatial (location-, region-, EU-specific and global) and temporal (short-, mediumand long-term). Hypothesizing evolutions of EU images in post-Maidan Ukraine in terms of the EU’s perceived power, opportunities and normative profile, our analysis tests its hypotheses by examining Ukrainian public opinion pre- and post-Maidan and tracing EU framing in influential press across the political continuum. Our results demonstrate the relational nature of EU external images and suggest avenues to fine-tune the EU’s operational and programming level tools in its dialogue with Ukraine.
Opinion 1/15 on the EU-Canada Passenger Name Record (PNR) Agreement: PNR Agreements Need to Be Compatible with EU Fundamental Rights
Authors: Tambou Olivia
Published: April 2022

The Court of Justice of the EU stated in its Opinion 1/15 that the envisaged PNR agreement between Canada and the EU cannot be concluded in its current form. Several of its dispositions are incompatible with European Fundamental Rights. The bulk transfer of PNR data including for the preventing and fighting against terrorism are prohibited. PNR Data collection need to be limited to what is strictly necessary in order to achieve security purposes. This Opinion confirms the crucial role of the Court both in negotiating international agreements and in developing the European model of personal data protection and respect for private life.
The European Unions Conflict-Resolution Policy in Georgia: The Way Forward
Authors: Harpaz Guy
Published: April 2022

The efforts invested by the EU to assist the resolution of the disputes over the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are long-standing and multifaceted. Yet, a dissonance exists between the EU’s strong interest in the resolution of these conflicts, its firm commitment and its long-standing engagement to promoting such resolution, and its actual, ineffective contribution to achieving that goal. Drawing on scholarship that analyses the factors that erode the effectiveness of the EU’s contribution to conflict resolution in Georgia, this article seeks to identify and analyse various strategies and considerations that could render the EU’s conflict resolution efforts more effective. These strategies and considerations will be classified into those pertaining to Georgia’s political establishment, Georgia’s civil society, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Russia, and will be linked to two broader themes, namely EU enlargement and the EU’s commitment to strict observance of international law. The analysis conducted in this article including its conclusions relies upon literature on comparative conflict resolution.
The EUs Global Strategy, Brexit and America First
Authors: Larik Joris
Published: April 2022

In less unusual times, the European Union’s Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy would have been received as merely the latest iteration of the main tenets and ambitions of EU external action – this time with an enhanced dose of pragmatism to respond to a more challenging international environment. However, with ‘Brexit’ looming large and one and a half years into the Trump Presidency in the United States, the Global Strategy has acquired a new level of significance. This article argues that while meant to express a largely uncontroversial ‘Western’ consensus, it now needs to be re-contextualized as a distinctive vision in the face of trends of antiglobalism and Euroscepticism. This concerns in particular the Strategy’s emphasis on rules-based global governance. Challenged by both President Trump’s ‘America First’ policy and the British government’s course for a ‘hard Brexit’, the Global Strategy now represents a contested blueprint and rallying point for a continued pursuit of a liberal world order based on the rule of law.
The EU as an Interorganizational Influencer?
Authors: Ewers-Peters Nele Marianne
Published: April 2022

This article seeks to address the European Union’s (EU’s) role as an interorganizational influencer vis-a-vis regional organizations. More specifically, it examines and assesses the extent to which the EU has been able to shape the institutional designs, policies and practices of the African Union (AU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the security domain. Both organizations are regional of nature, possess specific tasks and responsibilities which include the realm of security, and maintain interorganizational relations with the EU. While the EU has been heavily influenced by international organizations and international institutions, it also has the potential itself to exert interorganizational influence. This potential can put the EU in different positions as interorganizational influencer. These positions vary from role model and to a limited influencer. It is argued that in the early stages of the EU’s interorganizational relations, its ability to shape the evolution of its counterparts is greater than once the relationships have been strengthened because of the EU’s tools and resources. The case examples of the AU and ASEAN will serve to illustrate the varying degree of the EU’s influence on international organizations.
Making the Gulf Cooperation Council the EU of the Middle East
Authors: Fjærtoft Torgeir E.
Published: April 2022

European countries must assume the leadership vacated by the United States under President Trump by a bold new political initiative in the Middle East. The EU should engage Saudi Arabia on extending the consultations and cooperation within the GCC – the Gulf Cooperation Council – to the other major regional states, in addition to Saudi Arabia they are Iran, Turkey and Israel. These states form the Middle East state system by mutually generating their behaviour. Specifically, the EU should urge that GCC adapt the EU third country and neighbourhood policies that would be the quickest way to turn the GCC into the EU of the Middle East. A strategic discourse adapting a model from cognitive behavioural therapy can introduce the European transformation as a vision in the state system.
Speaking with One Voice: Explaining Coherence in EU External Energy Security Policy
Authors: Ferguson Victor A.
Published: April 2022

2017 saw an unusually high degree of coordination between the European Union (EU) and its Member States on external energy security policy. This is puzzling not only because it defies the expectations of critics who have long highlighted the failure of Member States to adopt coherent policies on the question of external energy security, but because individual Member States have strong incentives to adopt individualistic policies that undermine collective action in this policy area. This article seeks to answer two questions: how can coherence in EU external energy security policy be explained, and what does it suggest about the conditions under which the EU will be able to ‘speak with one voice’ in other contested external policy areas? In order to do so, I mine the existing literature for plausible explanations and identify and evaluate three separate narratives that rely on different causal mechanisms to explain greater coherence as a consequence of: (1) the gradual centralization of EU energy policy competence; (2) exogenous shocks to EU energy supply and; (3) institutional innovation under the Juncker Commission. I argue that none are independently sufficient to explain the phenomenon observed and present a novel ‘synergetic account’ that argues it was the unique interaction of each of the aforementioned factors that provided the conditions necessary for coherence, before concluding with a discussion of the implications of my findings for theory and policy.
Reactive Power EU: Russian Aggression and the Development of an EU Arctic Policy
Authors: Riddervold Marianne , Davis Cross Mai’a K.
Published: April 2022

There are many factors driving the development of European Union (EU) foreign policy. While much of the literature focuses on how particular interests, norms or internal processes within Brussels institutions, this article sheds light on the role of external factors in shaping EU foreign policy through an in-depth examination of the recent development of EU Arctic policies. We find that increased Russian aggression, not least in Ukraine, is key to understanding why the EU recently has taken a strong interest in the Arctic. In a more insecure environment, Member States are more prone to develop common policies to counter other powers and gain more influence over future developments, especially as it relates to regime-formation in the Global Commons. In effect, the EU demonstrates a kind of reactive power when it comes to dealing with new geopolitical threats.
Crisis Responders: Comparing Policy Approaches of the EU, the UN, NATO and OSCE with Experiences in the Field
Authors: Debuysere Loes
Published: April 2022

The EU aims at being a prominent global crisis responder but its Member States act also through the UN, NATO, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to achieve both short-term stabilization by military and/or civilian means, as well as longer term conflict prevention and transformation. By comparing the policy approaches of these four multilateral organizations to conflicts and crises, this article shows how the broad principle of comprehensiveness has been developed to fit different institutional logics, thus leading to divergences in approach. Distilling findings from empirical research conducted in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Libya, Mali and Ukraine, this article synthesizes lessons about varying levels of the EU’s and the other organizations’ conflict sensitivity, effective multilateralism, value-based approach and application of the principle of local ownership in theatre.
Changing Practices in European Foreign Policy
Authors: Henökl Thomas
Published: April 2022

Taking the EU’s hybrid foreign policy administration, the European External Action Service (EEAS) as a laboratory for study, this article examines the changing structures and processes of communication and coordination as well as various patterns of cooperation and conflict within the organization. Whereas research frequently focuses on foreign policy making at the national level and actors at the political level, I here want to zoom in on emerging practices and the role understanding of administrators within the EEAS in order to identify the dynamics and the consequences of organizational reform. In short, the article explores the emerging European diplomatic practices.

The argument starts from the assumption that new forms of transnational administrations provide the opportunity to re-combine diverse cultures stemming from different institutional origins, professional backgrounds, traditions, cognitive dispositions and behavioural logics, routines and ‘ways of doing things’. The emphasis is put on how such processes unfold, and why the adaptation of and the emergence of new patterns of behaviour contribute, at the same time, to institutional innovation and ambivalence. This line of investigation may benefit our understanding of increasing fluidity and blurring of boundaries between the fields of international relations and public policy.

Empirically, the study draws on interview and survey data from EU foreign policy makers (Total N=232), and finds that despite institutional resilience and continuity, the confluence of and conflicts between diplomatic and organizational cultures leads to behavioural innovation as a result of the need to deal with ambiguities and to replace practices that have ‘gone out of use’.

EU Foreign policy, EEAS, diplomacy, decision-making, organization, coordination, practices
The EU’s ‘Pragmatist Turn’ and the Struggle for Social Justice and Human Rights in the Arab World: A Decentring Framework for Analysis
Authors: Paciello Maria Cristina
Published: April 2022

This Special Issue aims to inquire how two contradictory developments – the sustained struggle for human rights and social justice in the Arab world since 2011 and the EU’s pragmatist turn that has followed it – interact by examining the changing relationship between local needs and expectations on one hand and EU policies and practices on the other. It does so by systematically exploring the viewpoints of civil society stakeholders about the EU’s presence and practices in the Mediterranean, both at the local level (specifically in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia) and at the EU level, through more than hundred in-depth interviews. This article provides a critical review of the literature on Euro-Mediterranean relations by drawing on a selected number of critical academic studies which have emerged in the post-Arab uprising, as well as by providing an overview of the grey literature by civil society networks in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean, often not taken into account in research on Mediterranean relations. This will allow us to see what has been neglected in the literature and what we can build on in this Special Issue from a decentring perspective. It then outlines the conceptual framework and methodology of this Special Issue and concludes with an overview of the case studies/contributions.
Switzerland-EU Relations: The Bilateral Way in a Fragilized Position
Authors: Schwok René
Published: April 2022

Relations between Switzerland and the European Union are in bad shape and the Swiss are tearing each other apart on this issue. There are two major issues at stake. First, the Swiss government is dithering over whether or not to initial a new Institutional agreement with the European Union (EU), although it was finalized by the negotiators in November 2018. In the event of non-acceptance by Switzerland, the European Union has already announced retaliatory measures. Secondly, in September 2020, Swiss citizens will have to vote on a popular initiative to scrap the agreement on the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the EU. A positive vote would sound the death knell for the bilateral treaties between both entities as they are bound together by a guillotine clause. These difficulties between Switzerland and the EU are certainly not new. But two fresh developments have arisen. On the one hand, the support of the socialists and trade unionists for the bilateral way is waning. On the other hand, the European Union has become less flexible than it previously was. The worst should, logically, be avoided because the Swiss have always been a pragmatic people and solutions are relatively easy to find. But an accumulation of blunders, combined with misperceptions of the actual power relations, could prove fatal.

Switzerland, EU external relations, EU external agreements, European Free Trade Association (EFTA), European Economic Area (EEA), Institutional agreement, Free movement of people, immigration, referendum, Brexit
Blueprints and Modalities of Status Arrangements for CSDP Operations and Missions
Authors: Törö Csaba
Published: April 2022

Status agreements for EU crisis management operations and missions represent a necessary legal aspect of their consensual conduct and completion. The adopted Status of Forces (SOFA) and Status of Mission (SOMA) Model Agreements for military and civilian deployments respectively have been implemented regularly in Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) undertakings for the presence and transit of EU-led multinational contingents and assets on land or at sea. Variations and repetition in the application of the ready standard frameworks dominate the spectrum of evolved practice, but casual and adaptive solutions have also indicated the occasional need for specific modalities of status arrangements for CSDP operations and missions. These include the extension of existing SOFA arrangements of an EU member, a UN peacekeeping mission or North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to an EU-led successive, supplementary or reinforcing multinational engagement in the same theatre of operation. With respect to non-standard arrangements for certain civilian CSDP crisis management deployments, their status came to be defined as activities of diplomatic missions due to the particular nature and context of EU undertakings in Bosnia, in Congo or in Kosovo. The available blueprints and tested modalities of status arrangements offer a comprehensive set of examples for the choice of adequate solutions for any future CSDP operation or mission.

CSDP, crisis management operation, crisis management mission, status of forces, status of mission, Model Agreement, EU forces, EULEX Kosovo
From Membership to Partnership The EU and Its Relations with the UK After Brexit: The Fisheries Dimension
Authors: Appleby Thomas
Published: April 2022

Fishing in European waters has been a contentious issue since the sixteenth century and was a key factor in the development of the international law of the sea itself. At the time the UK joined the EU and shared its waters with Member State vessels it also lost access to its traditional fishing grounds off Iceland. The Common Fisheries Policy developed a centralized approached based around historic fleet size rather than productivity of Member States’ waters. Controls were centred around technical measures, reduction in capacity and quota. These worked: the collapse of fish stocks was halted and started to recover a little. However many stocks are still potentially illegally allocated beyond scientific levels, and fishing continues unmanaged in the EU’s suite of offshore marine protected areas. The management institutions need greater transparency and stronger adherence to the law. There is scope to build a future relationship between the EU and the UK: the UK and some of its overseas territories need the EU market, many stocks are shared, and the parties will need to agree on scientific approaches. However, It is likely that the UK is due a greater allocation of stocks than the current system. As we approach the endgame of the Brexit negotiations it is important that both sides reflect that fishing represents less that 0.1% of their economies and over-politicization of a small sector will not help either party in the context of the larger negotiations. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which the UK helped to create, has started to rebuild stocks and that upward trajectory needs to continue; it will only do so through collaboration.

Brexit, Fisheries, Competence, Environment
‘They Need Us More than We Need Them’: British Exceptionalism, Brexit, and Justice and Home Affairs
Authors: MacKenzie Alex , Kaunert Christian , Léonard Sarah
Published: April 2022

This article analyses the EU-UK Future Relationship negotiations on Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) through the lenses of ‘exceptionalism’. This concept refers to a given state’s self-understanding as being not only fundamentally different from other states, but also morally superior. In its exemptionalist variant, exceptionalism also calls attention to the belief that one is entitled to exemptions from ordinary rules. This article argues that, whilst exemptionalist exceptionalism can be said to characterize the UK’s position in relation to European integration in general, it has been particularly pronounced in the JHA policy area. This is shown through an analysis of the various exemptions from ordinary rules and arrangements obtained by the UK over the years. The existence of those also demonstrates a broad acceptance by the rest of the EU of this selfperception of the UK as being an exceptional state. Furthermore, this article shows that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the UK government has retained this stance in the Future Relationship negotiations with the EU. It has set its expectations of negotiating agreements with the EU that would set it apart from all the other partners of the EU. It has attempted to justify such an exceptional treatment on the basis of the remarkable quality of the contribution that it has been able to make to EU internal security as encapsulated in the idea that ‘the EU needs us more than we need them’. However, recent developments suggest that the EU is no longer as favourably disposed to grant exceptional treatment to the UK in the field of JHA now as it was when the UK was a Member State.

United Kingdom, exceptionalism, Justice and Home Affairs, Internal security, Brexit
From Constitutional Adjudication to Trade Arbitration Enforcing Mobility Rights Post-Brexit
Authors: Barnard Catherine , Leinarte Emilija
Published: April 2022

This article addresses the termination of the CJEU’s jurisdiction post-Brexit and its replacement with a much more restricted dispute resolution provision, more reminiscent of that found in free trade agreements, focusing in particular on the enforcement of mobility rights. It begins by addressing the root causes for Britain’s antagonism towards the Court. It argues that the Court’s expansive interpretation of the Treaties, masked by a legalist approach to European integration, has allowed the Court largely to avoid scrutiny by most Member States. Nevertheless, the Court’s judicial activism was ultimately rejected by the UK leading to the Court’s curia non grata status post-Brexit. It then analyses the key features of the post-Brexit dispute settlement system proposed by the UK and the EU .We argue that while the Court has been criticized for its judicial activism, EU law did provide significant avenues for an individual’s access to courts. This fundamental feature is missing from the dispute resolution mechanism under the proposed UK-EU free trade agreement (FTA), leaving an important gap in the system of justice in the future UK-EU relationship.We argue that under the new dispute settlement regime mobility rights will be adjudicated as trade disputes. This has serious implications for the protection of rights of individuals wishing to exercise any future mobility rights.

Court of Justice, free trade agreement, integration, free movement of person, mobility, dispute resolution
The EEAS as a Navigator of EU Defence Aspects in Cyberspace
Authors: Duic Dunja
Published: April 2022

What is the principal role of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in EU cybersecurity and how does its influence in this crossover area of EU policies unfold? To answer these questions, the major cybersecurity documents, its actors and the EU competence in the field of cybersecurity will be reviewed. The article will then examine the role of the EEAS in the specific sub-area of EU cyber defence. It argues that the principal role of the EEAS is to bring more coherence and coordination to cybersecurity, especially in the area of cyber defence. Due to wellestablished procedures and strong institutional involvement supported by other bodies, the EEAS has entrenched its role in cybersecurity policies, even if it still remains a solely supportive one.

EU cybersecurity, Cyber defence, Cybersecurity strategy, EU institutional actors, EU competence
The EEAS: Navigating EU Inter-Institutional Relations and Africa
Authors: Sherriff Andrew
Published: April 2022

The first ten years of the European External Action Service (EEAS) coincided with a time of considerable evolution in the global, European, and African landscape. This article explores the success of the EEAS strategic navigation of the EU’s inter-institutional and Member State relationships with Africa. Issues such as diplomatic relations, peace and security, and the Commission’s exclusive and shared competences in trade and development cooperation respectively are examined from the EEAS point of view. It highlights the strategic and practical constraints facing the EEAS that explain not only past challenges, but those that remain relevant for the future performance of the Service. It looks at issues in EEAS Headquarters (HQ) as well as within the EU Delegations and explores the relationship between the EEAS and EU external financial instruments. It concludes that given its relative youth, the EEAS did not perform badly despite the peculiar circumstances in which it found itself. Looking forward, the long and rather chequered history of EU–Africa relations could do with a better strategic touch, informed by clear insight regarding dynamics on the continent and the position and interests of African actors. This is an argument in favour of a more empowered EEAS at HQ and within Delegations.

Africa, EEAS, DEVCO, Aid, Joint Africa EU Strategy (JAES), African Union, Geopolitical Commission, NDICI, European Commission, HRVP
The Pandemic and the Military: EU and NATO Between Resilience and Total Defence
Authors: Missiroli Antonio , Rühle Michael
Published: April 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again seen the use of the military in support of civilian authorities. Since pandemics and other non-military challenges are likely to grow in scope and frequency, the use of the military in such contingencies will also become the ‘new normal’. However, to make the employment of the military more effective, a number of additional steps need to be taken. These range from closer cooperation of key international institutions such as the EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to specific improvements in national pandemic preparedness. Moreover, these steps must also include the establishment of a broader political framework that centres on resilience as a central paradigm and helps insulating military contributions from political antagonisms and deliberate disinformation.

COVID-19, pandemic, resilience, total defence, European Union, NATO, cyber, disinformation, emerging technologies, hybrid
The Arctic Exception: The Role of the EU in the Kingdom of Denmark’s Arctic Policy
Authors: Larsen Henrik
Published: April 2022

In most policy areas the EU is either the main forum in which Danish foreign policy is conducted or the most important forum together with bilateral action. However, the Kingdom of Denmark’s Artic policy is an exception in this respect. The article suggests an answer to why the role of the EU is much less prominent in the Kingdom’s policy towards the Arctic than in most other areas of Danish foreign policy: the combination of a very strongly articulated Danish agency with regard to the Arctic and an EU policy which is not intensive but still resourceful. This makes for a Danish foreign policy which includes the EU in certain areas but also aims to limit the EU’s geopolitical influence and control its influence on the daily life of the people of the Arctic. In addition, the fragile character of the Kingdom of Denmark construction reinforces the sensitivity vis-à-vis of involvement of the EU.

Kingdom of Denmark, Arctic, EU, foreign policy, Greenland, Arctic Council, Artic Five, Ilulissat Declaration
‘United Space in Europe’? The European Space Agency and the EU Space Program
Authors: Davis Cross Mai’a K.
Published: April 2022

This article analyses the origins and development of the relationship between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU space program as separate, but related processes of European integration. For over fifty years the ESA has been separate from the EU institutionally despite having nearly all of the same Member States, and its role in uniting European countries in a common outer space endeavour has been significant. The ESA embraces the motto ‘United Space in Europe’. The EU’s interest in space has only emerged in the last twenty years, but has grown rapidly. As such, space has become a case of informal (i.e., outside of EU structures) differentiated integration. While it may be easy to assume that the ESA is outside of EU structures because Member States have wanted to keep space policy intergovernmental, the author argues that fundamentally different ideas about the role and use of space between the EU and the ESA have been the main, underlying driver. A long-standing spaceflight idea – mainly, the peaceful use of space for all of humankind – is embedded in the ESA’s DNA, while this is not the case for the EU (This article is an output of the EUFLEX project, which has been funded by the Research Council of Norway (project number 287131)).

European Space Agency, EU Space Program, differentiated integration, NASA, spaceflight, ESRO, ELDO