On Monday 9 March, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union needed to equip itself with a new foreign policy.
“We need a more realistic and interest-based foreign policy”, she argued in a speech to EU ambassadors in Brussels, adding that there must be the capacity to implement it.
The President explained that Europe could no longer be the guardian of the Old World order, “of a world that has disappeared and is not coming back”. “We will always defend and maintain the rules-based system (...), but we can no longer rely on it as the only means of defending our interests, nor can we assume that its rules will protect us from the complex threats we face”, she added.
Furthermore, according to the President, the EU must take a “lucid and careful” look at its foreign policy, “both in terms of how it is conceived and how it is deployed”. “We need to determine whether the system we have built - with all its well-intentioned attempts at consensus and compromise - is helping or hindering our credibility as a geopolitical player”, she said.
The President explained that Europeans must recognise that they cannot solve all the world’s problems or perfectly reconcile their values and interests in all circumstances. On the other hand, in her view, the EU can decide on the guiding principles of its external policy and how it chooses to conduct it.
“We need to defend our interests in a much more assertive way”, stressed Ms von der Leyen. “We can lay the foundations for a foreign policy that makes us stronger at home, more influential internationally, and a better partner for other countries around the world. A foreign policy that is the pillar of Europe’s independence, that protects our interests and promotes our values”, she explained. Ms von der Leyen stressed that while the EU’s foreign policy was changing, the imperative to defend European values in all circumstances would not.
According to the President of the Commission, in recent years, Europeans have become more capable of using their strengths to serve their interests. “Our aim is to become more resilient, more sovereign and more powerful, from defence to energy and from critical raw materials to strategic technologies”, she promised, calling for new relations with “reliable and trusted” partners. She also added that it was necessary to project the EU’s power more assertively, in particular to counter foreign aggression and interference, or by being much more pragmatic when it comes to our trade on a global scale.
Respect for international law. In her speech to the ambassadors, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas referred to the importance of international law. “Without the restoration of international law and accountability, we are condemned to repeated violations of the law, upheaval and chaos”, she warned, pointing to the implementation of a new world order “characterised by competition and coercive power politics, where military powers seek to establish and consolidate their spheres of influence”.
“Our response to this situation says less about the new order than it does about ourselves”, warned Ms Kallas, arguing that success depended on achieving the EU’s three priorities - the defence of Europe, stability in the neighbourhood and partnerships to ensure Europe’s economic growth - and on mobilising international support.
The High Representative also highlighted several areas of work for EU ambassadors.
“The name of our organisation is the starting point: the European External Action Service. So we need to take even stronger action. We all need to speed up our procedures and generate innovative ideas”, she stressed. Ms Kallas called on ambassadors to think big, “to think globally to identify opportunities where the EU can act for the common good, but also for its own interest”.
It is also necessary to “occupy space diplomatically”, by building coalitions with allies and partners with different opinions. The foundations of European identity - human rights and international law - must not be forgotten, and that it is necessary to “speak out confidently in defence of (these) principles, but also with understanding, humility and by offering our support”.
Closer cooperation between colleagues, including other institutions and CSDP missions, in the same country, but also in the region, was also emphasised. Lastly, Ms Kallas argued, that it is necessary to “communicate dynamically and elegantly, so as to touch the hearts of citizens and civil servants” in host countries. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)