7.2.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 47/135 Wednesday 6 July 2022
Rebuilding a multilateralism enshrined in core EU values
1.
Welcomes the joint communication by the Commission and the VP/HR to Parliament and the Council on strengthening the EU’s contribution to rules-based multilateralism; considers that this communication contributes very directly to and further advances the reflection on the direction of the EU’s foreign policy from its important, but more general commitment to effective multilateralism as defined in the 2003 European security strategy to the realisation of the need to combine the value and objective of effective multilateralism with principled pragmatism and the need to promote and preserve the EU’s interests and values, as laid out in the 2016 global strategy for the EU’s foreign and security policy; recalls that the best strategy for defending multilateralism is to rebuild it by making it more relevant, resilient, and effective;
2.
Supports the joint communication’s statement that ‘the Council needs to use Treaty provisions that allow for constructive abstention and for the adoption of decisions by qualified majority voting in Common Foreign and Security Policy’; stresses the need to anchor qualified majority voting in foreign policy matters in future EU treaty changes, which would allow the EU to become a more effective global actor;
3.
Concurs with the Commission and the VP/HR on the need for the EU to be more assertive in pursuing its interests and in advancing the universal values on which it is founded and, therefore, concurs on the need for the EU to defend and strengthen these values, the rules-based order and multilateralism as means to ensuring a level playing field for the international community, providing a platform for inclusive policy dialogue, cooperation and convergence and achieving policy responses supported by the international community at large and which can truly deliver;
4.
Highlights that it is of paramount importance for the EU to strengthen its external action and diplomacy toolbox with its own autonomous instruments, increasing its capacity to be a global actor and ‘speak with one voice’ in order to better defend multilateralism, which should include the creation of a European Diplomatic Academy as recently called for by Parliament; reiterates its call to include the ‘New European Bauhaus’ as a new instrument in the EU’s external action toolbox and as a useful cultural and public diplomatic tool, which is fundamental for promoting a values-based multilateral order and the strengthening of international partnerships;
5.
Points to the EU’s ability to devise very efficient and inclusive regulatory standards for its single market and takes the view that the EU should also seek to promote such standards in the framework of its external action as a paradigm and contribution to the discussion on effective global regulatory standards; recalls Article 24 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which states that the ‘Member States shall support the Union’s external and security policy actively and unreservedly in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity’, and that they ‘shall refrain from any action which is contrary to the interests of the Union or likely to impair its effectiveness as a cohesive force in international relations’; is concerned by the activities of some Member States, such as undertaking bilateral diplomatic initiatives with third countries, which may run counter to the provisions of Article 24 TEU;
6.
Believes that the EU must continue to act as a staunch and key defender of multilateralism in the world and avoid actions that undermine these objectives; concludes, however, that the EU must respond to global forces, such as increased fragmentation, the weaponisation of trade and protectionism, in order to preserve its competitive advantages;
7.
Takes the views that the EU should use the efforts to find solutions for global problems, such as climate change, or to promote stability and peace, as an entry point for more broader diplomatic relations with third countries with which dialogue and cooperation on other policy items may not always be immediately feasible;
8.
Calls on the EU to become more assertive and strategic in dealing with rising global threats; underlines that in the context of a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, the world is at a crossroads and multilateral institutions are in danger of becoming dominated by non-democratic regimes; calls for a strong, action-based, commitment to protecting democracy and fundamental rights in multilateral fora;