The EU’s foreign policy is inadequate to the task
of keeping Europe safe in today’s world.
• Over the last five years, trust between Brussels
and member states dwindled, and policy came
to reflect the lowest common denominator of
popular opinion.
• The coming five years herald acute pressure on
Europe, as Russia, China, and the US undermine
multilateral institutions and treat trade, finance
data, and security guarantees as instruments of
power rather than global public goods.
• The new high representative should move
to rewire European foreign policymaking to
exercise strategic sovereignty.
• The high representative needs more support
on this strategy – from deputies, special
representatives, and foreign ministers tasked
with specific roles.
• The new leadership team in Brussels needs
to reoperationalise European defence, build
Europe’s self-sufficiency through a strong
European pillar in NATO, and consider
innovations such as a European Security Council.
• Europe will only build greater unity by tackling
controversial issues head on in the European
Council and the Foreign Affairs Council. The high
representative needs to play a much more active
role in these debates.