EU actorness in relation to Environment policy and Development policy: An evaluation.

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Lynda Curtis

EU actorness in relation to Environment policy and Development policy: An evaluation.

“The sheer size of the European Union in economic, trade and financial terms makes it a world player. The EU has a web of bilateral and multilateral agreements covering most countries and regions of the globe.”

The European Union today faces global responsibilities and challenges. The EU is the largest trading block in the world, the largest donor of humanitarian and development assistance and a constant point of reference for others on stability, democracy and human rights. Although the European Union institutions play a huge part in the day-to-day affairs of the states inside of the Union this report will assess the EU’s role in relation to the area outside of the European Union borders. I will look firstly at the different criteria by which it can be established that the EU is indeed an actor I will then look closer at how the EU acts externally in two policy areas; Environmental policy and Development policy. I will conclude with an assessment of the European Union as an actor outside of the EU area.

 

How do we define Europe as an external actor?

There are deemed to be certain prerequisites to distinguish  ‘actorness’ in a state. In order to call the EU an actor there must be commitment at EU level to a set of values and principles, both political and moral, accepted by all the member states. There must be the ability to prioritise and formulate policies that are in turn accepted by all the European Union institutions and the governments of the member states. There must be the capacity to use the policies formulated internally and apply them to external policy and the Union must have the ability to act quickly and effectively to crisis. Realist theorists believe that the European Union is unable to fill these criteria for actorness as they claim that calling the twenty five EU countries a collective state is to simple a view for contemporary politics. They believe that as the EU does not possess its own military or security policy it cannot claim to be a separate state, this can only be claimed by the member states individually. They also reject the idea of the EU being an actor as the member states of the EU still hold national sovereignty and do not answer to a higher entity except with regards to economic matters.  

European Union actorness

It is thought by some that EU actorness is constructed through the interaction of three factors.

Presence

This is the effects and the ability to influence the behaviour of others that the European Union can have by merely existing. This effect is not intended but is born out of reputation. An example of this is the demand for Union membership from Eastern Europe. This demand stems from the Unions reputation of the benefits that come with membership.

The primary contributions to presence include the external impacts on third parties of:    the customs union,

          the Common Agricultural Policy

      the single market.

Opportunity

Opportunity stems from the ability of the EU to act in external matters. In order to achieve a level of actorness on a global scale the European Union must take every chance it is given to get involved in global issues. As the worlds largest trading block in is inevitable that the EU must involve itself in matters of global trade but in recent years it has been given the opportunity to involve itself in other aspects of global politics for example the recent disagreements with the USA about the impacts of global warming have left the door open for the European Union to take on the role of environmental protector. This in turn has allowed the European Union the opportunity to influence other countries such as China in their own environmental policy.

Capability

This refers to internal constraints and ability to act externally. This too falls into three categories;

        Consistency- this relates to the ability of the twenty-five member states to act collectively as one state. This togetherness adds weight to the union’s actorness. Not every member state acts at the same level in every policy area for example almost all the member states work at the same level to implement trade policy whereas with regards to security policy the union is completely state-centric with each member state controlling its own security policy.

        Coherence- this is based on the ability of the internal institutions to act together. In most areas the supranational institutions of the union are able to work along side each other, each with their own specific tasks but it s not always possible. As the EU does not have a ‘cabinet office’ it is often the Commission that is given the most power and responsibility although in recent years the publicly elected European Parliament has been seen to take on extra responsibilities.

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        Availability of policy instruments- this is the ability of the EU to make available personnel to partake in external diplomatic representation, visits and negotiations such as the availability of policing (like that in Bosnia) and representatives for judicial missions to advise (as in Georgia.) It also relates to economic instruments for example the granting and/or withholding its economic presence such as market access, aid and imposing sanctions.

Europe as a global actor; development policy

European Union development policy is probably the most effective external area of the union after trade. Development policy is most notably born out of ...

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