EU Foreign Policy 10 Years after Lisbon | Helene Sjursen

UACES Podcasts | Ideas & Experts on Europe

Recorded at the "Perspectives on European Foreign Policy in the Context of Current EU-Russia Relations" Workshop - Friday 11 January 2019 - Leiden University, Netherlands * * * Professor Sjursen talks about the increased “normative uncertainty” in the current global context that the EU is struggling with, next to the often discussed increasing instability and increasing unpredictability: “there is uncertainty about the rules of the game, rules that were taken for granted seem by many actors not to be taken for granted anymore. What does that mean for foreign policy? [..] We seem to be observing the need to re-draw the normative anatomy of world order.“ The main challenge of the EU in foreign policy, according to Professor Sjursen, is understanding the normative challenge to the liberal world order, which is fundamentally different from positioning oneself in a game for power. We need to better understand how the EU can deal with the normative challenge and how to reconsider what can and what should be rescued in what we refer to as the liberal order, and what should be reformed. But can the EU now do something in 2019 that it could not do in 2009? Professor Sjursen suggests that one might answer “yes” straight away if one looks at institutional capacity. With the EEAS, a more active and more visible High Representative, the EU is now more like an actor that can take well informed decisions and execute those decisions. But in regard of the idea of normative uncertainty the assessment is slightly different in the sense that one thing is to be a credible actor based on another thing is to be considered a legitimate actor in the global system. “And in order to get things done, actors probably need more than resources, they also need legitimacy”. And there the ongoing crises in Europe “reduce the ability of the EU to be perceived as a credible actor that promotes liberal values in the global system”. * * * Note: UACES does not take responsibility for opinions expressed in this recording. All opinions are those of the contributors.