The European Union's Emerging International Identity : Views from the Global Arena

There may exist a substantial gap between the proclaimed international identity of the EU on the one hand, and the prevailing realities in the global arena on the other. The European Union's Emerging International Identity investigates whether such a gap indeed exists, by exploring the Union's position and functioning within the framework of eight other international organizations. The emergence of a security and defence policy of the European Union (EU) and the questions it raises for the relationship between the Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have always been closely linked to the question of the 'identity' of the EU on the international stage. To (ab)use René Descartes' famous axiom: Union bears arms, therefore it is - arma fero, ergo sum. The EU-NATO relationship is therefore particularly well suited for scrutinizing the Union's 'international identity' through the interaction with another international organization. This paper argues that notwithstanding the mutual reaffirmations of importance between the two organisations, the European Union has not only come to incorporate security and defence policy into its ambit of competences, but has put itself on a track to become a fully-fledged security policy actor, arguably surpassing NATO. At the same time, the relevance of NATO has declined, and it is left with the choice either to branch out or accept a residual yet not insignificant role in transatlantic relations. These contrary organizational histories left a strong legal imprint, which allows for a number of observations of the Union's international identity, albeit not through NATO, but rather through the hallmarks of its own legal order and its relations with NATO La 4e de couverture indique : "The European Union officially acquired international legal personality with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Since then, the constitutional foundations of EU external relations have received an ever-greater amount of scholarly attention. So far however, the body of knowledge has remained limited with regard to how the Union is actually being perceived on the global scene. Moreover, its dealings with other international organizations constitute a similar, still underexplored topic. 'The European Union's Emerging International Identity' breaks new ground by addressing both these themes in combination. The resulting volume offers an innovative inquiry into the EU's image and status, based on a select number of studies of its position and functioning within the framework of eight international organizations"