Foreign Affairs Cooperation

Foreign affairs cooperation in Europe can be tackled from many angles. Some of the questions that might be considered during this workshop are:

  • How did cooperation in Foreign Affairs evolve in Europe since World War I?
  • How did Foreign Affairs and Security cooperation evolve in Europe after the failure of the European Defence Community (rejected by France in 1954 although the initial proposition had been made by French Prime Minister René Pleven in 1950)? Is the failure of the EDC solely responsible for the structure (or lack thereof) of Foreign Affairs cooperation in Europe in the post 1945 period?
  • At which level is European Foreign Policy integration conceivable? Can Europeans only cooperate when a few of them temporarily have common national interests?
  • How do the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and NATO complement or contradict each other? Is a common European Foreign Policy independent from NATO (which is currently responsible for the territorial defence of Europe) conceivable? What are the advantages and drawbacks of the relationship between the EU forces and NATO, often described as “separable, but not separate”?
  • Was France’s decision to reintegrate the armed commandment of NATO in 2008 a positive sign for Security cooperation in Europe?
  • Did the creation of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy improve cooperation on those issues? How can we assess the work on Baroness Ashtonsince 2009?
  • Do national interests jeopardise any attempt of establishing a real cooperation in Foreign Affairs in Europe?
  • To what extent do France and the United Kingdom and their history play a special role in European Foreign Affaires?
  • To what extent does the comprehensive definition of Security of the OSCE differ from the traditional security concept? Did Europe succeed in its attempt to promote a concept of security that emphasises not only politico-military security but also the crucial importance of human rights and democracy standards?
  • Was the intervention in Libya an example of effective Foreign Affairs cooperation? How can we interpret Germany’s abstention to vote the 1973 UN Resolution?
  • Is the role of the EU is the recent P5+2 agreement with Iran on its nuclear program a sign of a current assertion of European cooperation in Foreign affairs? Was it the first significant success of Catherine Ashton?
  • Why has Europe failed to determine a common, consistent and coherent position on the Syrian case?
  • Will there ever be, in a foreseeable future, a real pan-European defence force?

Panelists

Sophie Loussouarn is a Senior Lecturer in British politics and history and she is also a journalist, writer and broadcaster specialising on British-French relations. Sophie is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm) and Oxford (Wadham College). She graduated from the Institute of Political Science in Paris and is an expert on British politics and economics. She lectures at the Sorbonne and at the University of Amiens in France and is a visiting professor at the University of Alicante in Spain. She wrote a book on the British Economy since 1945, and has recently published a book on the Blair years The Political Odyssey of Tony Blair (Séguier, 2009) and David Cameron, a Conservative of the twenty-first century (Séguier, 2010).

Thomas Raines Thomas Raines is a research associate at Chatham House where he coordinates the Europe Programme. Previously, he worked as an analyst in the Strategy Unit of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London. His research interests lie in British foreign policy, the UK’s relationship with the EU, and public attitudes to international affairs. He is the co-author of the Chatham House reports A Diplomatic Entrepreneur: Making the Most of the European External Action Service (2011), with Staffan Hemra and Richard Whitman; and Hard Choices Ahead: British Attitudes Towards the UK’s International Priorities (2012), with Jonathan Knight and Robin Niblett. He has served on a number of election-monitoring missions with the OSCE. He studied history and political science at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Pennsylvania.

Student Organisers
Charles Tetu : Charles finished its bachelor degree at Sciences Po after studying one year abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is currently doing his Masters in Public Affairs in Science Po. His key field of interest is International Affairs and Diplomacy.

Shayli Mellouk: Shayli is pursuing a master degree in Finance and Strategy at Sciences Po Paris (France) after finishing her bachelor at the Euro-American campus of Reims. She spent a year in London at Ubifrance and her key fields of interest include economy, finance and politics.