A formal requirement across sectoral policies, coordination is a concern in the regular decision-making of the Commission. Although it might be met with reluctance on the part of services, it is enshrined in the organisation of the Commission: administrative and political instruments, and horizontal services exist to ensure the coordination of policies. The coordination of external policies – and the related issue of coherence – has for long been a particular concern. With the Lisbon Treaty, it has even gained more political importance: a renewed commitment to the coherence of the EU external action and institutional creation have led the Commission to adapt itself. The coordination of external policies has for instance been given an institutional form within the Commission with the creation of a unit dedicated to the task within the Secretariat General of the Commission. The nature of the coordination challenge for the Commission has also evolved and now cannot be considered without its inter-institutional implications. The new Treaty, introducing new actors – outsiders – in the external policy realm, has partially disrupted previous patterns of coordination and thus created new coordination needs. This paper will assess how and to what extent external policies are coordinated within the Commission. It builds on a two-level approach – service and political level – to analyse the responsibilities, resources and actual contributions of the different actors towards coordination. The paper argues that, despite the principles on the internal functioning of the Commission, the instruments available and actors specifically engaged in coordination-related activities, the coordination of external policies remains a challenge.
