The EU External Action: Towards a Joined-Up Approach? The Case of EU-Swiss Relations

In its Global Strategy of 2016, the EU pledges to adopt a more joined-up approach in its external action. The development of a joined-up approach across its external policies would mean for the EU to integrate and coordinate better its diverse forms of external relations, i.e. foreign policy and sectoral cooperation. These different forms of external relations have hitherto been addressed in two separate academic strands of literature (foreign policy and external governance), which makes it difficult to assess whether and under what conditions the EU is moving towards such a joined-up approach. This article proposes an analytical framework addressing the intersection between (diplomatic) foreign policy and sectoral cooperation. The analytical framework starts from the assumption that the drivers of a joined-up approach stem from rational cost-benefit calculations whereby the EU recognizes the potential of its sectoral policies as a resource in foreign policy. Regulatory approximation in sectoral policies may constitute a source of leverage for the EU which, if coordinated with overarching foreign policy goals, enhances its capabilities in external action, and hence its consolidation as a foreign policy actor. In this paper, we will analyze if the European Union adopts a joined-up approach in its relations with Switzerland and under what conditions. The sectors investigated will be trade, aviation as well as research and innovation. Switzerland makes for an interesting case study as its traditionally technocratic, non-politicized relation with the EU seems to have changed lately. With this article, we seek to move beyond the current division between foreign policy and external governance approaches in European Studies and, by proposing a novel analytical framework addressing the interface between the two types of external action, contribute to a fuller understanding of the nature, the potential and limits of the EU as a foreign policy actor.