The European Parliament as an actor in European Union foreign policy

Abstract

The assumption that the European Union (EU) represents a significant player on the stage of international politics has been viewed sceptically amongst the specialists in the area of International Relations. Any attempt, therefore, to consider the involvement of the EU institutions such as the European Parliament (EP) in foreign affairs has been traditionally regarded as a remote possibility and unlikely prospect. The stereotyped image given to the European Parliament, particularly with regard to its role in foreign policy, has been of a weak and loose institution within a . loose institutional framework. The aim of this article is to assess the veracity of the above generalization and to examine the role (if any) the European Parliament has in shaping the development of a European foreign policy from a legal as well as from a political perspective. In order to do so, it will be necessary to outline the European Community/European Union's (EC/EU) evolution towards a coherent foreign policy from the early 1970s to the present time. Special attention will be given to the Member States' intergovernmental relationship in the field of foreign policy which became known formally as European Political Cooperation (EPC) under the Single European Act (SEA) of 1986 and later relabelled as Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in Title V of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992.