The European Commission: Inside and Out – ‘Administering EU Foreign Policy after Lisbon: The case of the EEAS’. EIPA Working Paper 2008/W/01, 2008. Paper prepared for the EU-Consent Workshop, Edinburgh, May 15-16 2008

Duke, Simon. (2008) The European Commission: Inside and Out – ‘Administering EU Foreign Policy after Lisbon: The case of the EEAS’. EIPA Working Paper 2008/W/01, 2008. Paper prepared for the EU-Consent Workshop, Edinburgh, May 15-16 2008.

Abstract

[From the Introduction]. This panel has been invited to consider the timely theme, ‘Administering EU Foreign Policy after Lisbon’. The title alone begs a number of questions. We do not know for sure that Lisbon will be ratified and the hopes of the Eurosceptics are pinned on Ireland’s referendum. The term ‘foreign policy’ covers a whole range of activities, including the external ramifications of internal policies, the external effects of the Eurozone, right through to the more traditional areas associated with diplomacy and crisis management. Then there is the question of what is meant by ‘administering’; in this contribution emphasis is placed on those treaty-based efforts to improve the consistency and coherence of EU external relations. Aside from these terminological issues, there is the broader challenge of trying to understand the administrative implications of the Lisbon Treaty at a time when, for understandable reasons, there is extreme reluctance to reveal any cards by those who are and will be involved in EU external relations. So, what can the researcher contribute at this juncture?