Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2006 (5. évfolyam)
2006 / 3-4. szám - EURÓPAI UNIÓ - Szolcsányi Bálint: Egy koherensebb külső szerepvállalás megteremtésének szükségessége, lehetőségei és kihívásai az Európai Unióban
Szolcsányi Bálint Résumé The challanges of making the EU's external action more coherent The beginning of European integration brought along a new and special actor in the field of international relations, characterised by phrases such as 'a sui generis organisation' or 'unidentified political object'. Among the special characteristics of the integration one needs to mention that there is no agreed plan as regards the final form of cooperation and partly as a result of this we see a rather complex polity when examining European integration, which is currently facing a large number of challenges. One of these is the question of how to make its external action -which include not only policies covered by the second pillar, but also several first-pillar competences- more coherent and thus effective. The Constitutional Treaty intended to create a framework within which this coherence could have been increased by creating the post of the Union Minister of Foreign Affairs (UMFA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS). Although this Treaty has been rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands it is not irrelevant to examine its proposed changes and their possible effects on the development of the integration. Firstly because it is not uncommon in the history of the integration that a plan once raised gets rejected or fails for the first time, but remains on the agenda and sooner or later becomes reality. Secondly because both the leaders of the Member States and European citizens agree that there is a need for greater and more effective involvement of the EU in world politics. The essay examines the most importan challanges that need to be faced when trying to increase coherence in the field of external action; the post of the UMFA and the EEAS as envisaged by the Constitutional Treaty and the questions their creation raises; the possibilities of creating these new institutional elements in the framework of the Nice Treaty; and finally it briefly evaluates the proposed changes from a FFungarian point of view. 48 Külügyi Szemle
