The study of EU foreign policy

The European Union's foreign policy is an ongoing puzzle encompassing a number of paradoxes. The membership of the enlarging European Union has set itself ever more ambitious goals in the field of foreign policy-making, yet at the same time each member state continues to guard their ability to conduct an independent foreign policy. As far as the EU‟s ambitions are concerned, basic foreign policy co-operation led first to co-ordination, and later the goal of creating a "common" foreign policy. However, behind each raised level of ambition was an unsatisfying reality of continuing policy incoherence and ineffectiveness. Similarly, early ambitions that Europe should develop a single foreign policy "voice" have been supplanted by aspirations to create a common security and defence policy – even as the Union‟s voice continues to be often fragmented and frequently tentative in its expression. Moreover, while the desire to maintain the national veto over decision-making within the "second pillar" of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) remains, it is increasingly challenged by the realisation that without extended use of qualified majority voting a common policy may prove illusory.