Europe as a Global Actor: Searching for a New Strategic Approach

The EU as a Global Actor: United We Stand, Divided We Fall

“…As already indicated in the previous Annual Review (Pomorska and Vanhoonacker, ), Mogherini took quite a different approach. During the two‐phase period of ‘strategic reflection’, the first culminating with an assessment document release in June 2015 and the second finishing with the EUGS a year later, Mogherini and her team developed a specific working method where Tocci together with the strategic planning division within EEAS led the official work with EU member states and the Commission (mainly through a special task force established by the Secretariat but involving most of the DGs), while the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) co‐ordinated public outreach and consultation, leading to a ‘whole of the EU’ approach and using both Mogherini's HR and VP hats.…”

“…The contribution will focus on the EU's role as a global actor at four levels: inter‐institutional, bilateral, regional/inter‐regional and multilateral. Borrowing from, and expanding on, the categories used in the previous Annual Review (Pomorska and Vanhoonacker, ), the contribution will consider how well the EU has done in 2016 as a diplomatic actor, as a strategic actor, as a defence and security actor, as a regional and inter‐regional actor, as a trade actor and, finally, how it all fits within the image of the EU as a global actor. If there is any lesson to be drawn from 2016 for the EU and its role on the international stage, it is a simple one: as a global actor, united the EU stands, divided it falls.…”

Influencing the International Transport Regime Complex: The EU’s Climate Action in ICAO and IMO

“…The situation was reversed in and after 2015 when the Paris Agreement was adopted (Falkner, 2016). Following and building on this significant development, which owed much to the EU assertiveness (Pomorska & Vanhoonacker, 2016), the EU has attempted to restore its previously battered leadership role in shaping international climate rules (Bäckstrand & Elgström, 2013;Oberthür & Dupont, 2021), advocating ambitious climate targets in a broad array of sub-regimes. This trend has been boosted by the adoption of the European Green Deal (Eckert, 2021).…”

Normative Power Europe Caving In? EU under Pressure of Russian Information Warfare

“…This is done by engaging with Diez and Manners’ proposition that the EU's normative power can be measured by focusing on its communication or discourse. Previous research on EU communication has investigated what self‐image the EU materializes in its public diplomacy (see Rosamond, ; Pomorska and Vanhoonacker, ) as well as external reactions to the EU as a normative power (Daskalova, ; Larsen, ; Romanova, ). Yet, Diez () takes the research on EU communication a step further, calling for self‐reflection, or self‐reflexivity, meaning that the EU ought to recognize its own failures and reflect on the discursive context in which it is engaging.…”