The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy: Stagnation as Default

In the case of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU), one can hardly speak of de-europeanisation, as the policy area has never been properly europeanised in the first place. In the 1990s, increasing intergovernmental cooperation in the EU raised ex-pectations that it was only a matter of time before political union would be achieved in the CFSP. The establishment of the Euro¬pean Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) in 1999, the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe in 1999, the two rounds of enlarge¬ment in 2004 and 2007 and the more than 20 civilian, military and civil-military mis¬sions or operations undertaken until 2009 were considered by many as milestones along the path to a CFSP. These expectations, however, have not materialised. In contrast, during the last decade, the EU has demonstrated an increasing inability to bring about a results-oriented common foreign policy. A data-based analysis of the CFSP shows that the EU has produced little tangible output since the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in 2009. In recent years, only sanction documents and press releases record an increasing trend among the CFSP-relevant output. Lack of output in terms of regulations and decisions would not be so problematic, were it not met by an equally poor performance in terms of outcome. The discord among the Member States on the EU’s foreign policy objectives and common positions not only prohibits internal cohesion, but also opens a window for external contestation of the EU’s role in the world. The CFSP, therefore, presents a case in point of how a state of stagnation becomes the default mode, and opportunities of contestation open up both internally and externally. In a first step, the methodological approach to data collection chosen here is presented. SPARQL queries were used as well as an automated collection of raw data by means of web scraping of the Council websites. In a subsequent step, a descriptive analysis of the data on CFSP output follows. Council decisions, sanctions and minutes of Council meet-ings as well as press releases are examined. The pilot study on CFSP output carried out here makes it possible to formulate recommendations for improved functional transparency, which is a necessary step for further research.