The Europe Experience

- The Facts -

Instability at EU’s Eastern borders, violence in the Middle East, the international threat of terrorism.	About 795 million people are suffering from chronic undernourishment, whereas 780 million live in developing countries.	Over the period of 2010-2014, EU Member States were responsible for 25.4 per cent of the deliveries of major conventional weapons worldwide.
Does the EU as a single actor not have far greater influence on tackling the global challenges than each country acting alone?	Can the EU do anything to contribute to improvement of this alarming situation?	Can the EU prevent that arms get into hands of human rights abusers?

- What can the EU do? -

The EU´s role in foreign affairs is on the one hand conducted through its diplomatic arm – the European External Action Service (EEAS) whose head is the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy having at the same time the role of Vice-President of the European Commission. The EEAS represents the strategic interests of the EU as a single body and helps to maintain partnerships and dialogue on various topics with key international players. Abroad, the EU is represented by a number of EU Delegations, which have similar functions to those of an embassy. In the light of the current wave of instability and violence in EU’s neighbourhood, the EU recently reviewed its Neighbourhood Policy with a view to enhance the partnership and cooperation with its southern and eastern neighbours.

Under the Common Security and Defence Policy, the EU aims at contributing to international security and peace. It has performed a number of peacekeeping operations and civilan missions worldwide which carry out a variety of tasks from conflict prevention to border management and local police training. Recently, the EU presented its new Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy which aims at providing a strategic framework for dealing with the new security challenges.