The EU at the UN Security Council: Plus Ça Change, Plus C’est La Même?

Even though the UN Security Council (UNSC) constitutes the cornerstone of world politics and the sole legitimising agent of international interventions, it has remained for a long time a non-place for the EU as a collective political entity. In contrast to the UN General Assembly, in which the EU has consistently sought an enhanced role, the state-centric nature of the UNSC has refrained the EU member-states from any similar initiatives. However, this does not suggest that the EU is totally absent from the interactions that take place in this organ. Our paper explores the EU presence in the UNSC by means of three indicators: oral statements by EU member-states and EU representatives, financial contributions to peace keeping and peace enforcing missions approved by the UNSC, and (co-)sponsoring of (draft) resolutions. For the first indicator, we make use of a newly compiled data set that collects and analyses the oral interventions of EU member-states and EU official spokespersons. Our core research question is related to the coherence of the actions of EU member-states and whether these actions are in line with the broader EU foreign policy acquis, enhancing the international role of the EU.