Foreign policy: aims, instruments and achievements
The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was established in 1993 and has since been strengthened by subsequent treaties. Today, Parliament regularly contributes to the development of the CFSP, in particular by scrutinising the activities of its institutional actors and bodies: the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who also serves as Vice-President of the European Commission; the European External Action Service (EEAS); the EU Special Representatives (EUSRs) and the EU delegations. Parliament’s budgetary powers can also shape the scale and scope of the CFSP.
CFSP: development through the Treaties
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union was established by the Treaty on European Union (TEU) in 1993 with the aim of preserving peace, strengthening international security, promoting international cooperation and developing and consolidating democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The TEU introduced the ‘three-pillar system’, with the CFSP as the second pillar. The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam established a more efficient decision-making process, including constructive abstention and qualified majority voting. In December 1999, the European Council established the role of the High Representative for the CFSP. The 2003 Treaty of Nice introduced further changes to streamline the decision-making process and mandated the Political and Security Committee, which had been established under a Council decision in January 2001, to exercise political control and strategic direction of crisis management operations.
The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, provided the Union with legal personality and an institutional structure for its external service. In addition, it eliminated the pillar structure introduced by the TEU in 1993. The Treaty created a range of new CFSP actors, including the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who also serves as Vice-President of the European Commission, and the new permanent President of the European Council. Moreover, it created the European External Action Service (EEAS) and upgraded the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), which forms an integral part of the CFSP (for more details 5.1.2).
The legal basis for the CFSP was set out in the TEU and revised in the Treaty of Lisbon. Articles 21-46, Title V, of the TEU establish the ‘General Provisions on the Union’s External Action and Specific Provisions on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)’. Articles 205-222, Part 5, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) cover the Union’s external action. Articles 346 and 347, Part 7, also apply.
Looking to the future, the final report of the EU’s Conference on the Future of Europe, presented to the Presidents of Parliament, the Council and the Commission on 9 May 2022, proposed ‘that the EU improve its capacity to take speedy and effective decisions, notably in CFSP, speaking with one voice and acting as a truly global player, projecting a positive role in the world and making a difference in response to any crisis’.
Parliament’s foreign policy powers and instruments
Despite its limited formal role in foreign policy decision-making, Parliament has supported the concept of the CFSP from its inception and sought to extend its scope.
Article 36 of the TEU requires the High Representative to consult Parliament regularly on the principal aspects of and choices made under the CFSP and to inform Parliament of the policy’s evolution. Parliament holds twice-yearly debates on CFSP progress reports and puts questions and recommendations to the Council and the High Representative.
Parliament’s right to be informed and consulted about the CFSP/CSDP was further strengthened by the High Representative’s declaration of political accountability in 2010, attached to Parliament’s resolution on the creation of the EEAS. The declaration provided, among other things, for:
- Holding the ‘Joint Consultation Meetings’ (JCMs), which allow a designated group of Members of the European Parliament to meet counterparts from the Council’s Political and Security Committee, the EEAS and the Commission to discuss planned and ongoing civilian CSDP missions;
- Affirming the right of Parliament’s ‘special committee’ to have access to confidential information relating to the CFSP and the CSDP, which is based on an interinstitutional agreement of 2002;
- Holding exchanges of views with heads of mission, heads of delegation and other senior EU officials during committee meetings and hearings of committees of Parliament, including exchanges of views in the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) with selected newly appointed heads of EU delegations or EU Special Representatives (EUSRs) which Parliament considers strategically important, before they take up their posts;
- Mandating the High Representative to appear before Parliament at least twice a year to report on the current state of affairs regarding the CFSP/CSDP and to answer questions.
Kaja Kallas, who serves as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and as Vice-President of the European Commission, confirmed the continued validity of the 2010 Declaration, and made several other political commitments during her investiture hearing in 2024, as Commissioner-designate.
In addition to this political dialogue, Parliament exercises its authority through the budgetary procedure. As one arm of the EU’s budgetary authority, Parliament must approve the annual CFSP budget. An interinstitutional agreement (IIA), on budgetary discipline, revised most recently in December 2020, sets the framework for the annual approval and the basic structure of the CFSP budget, as well as reporting mechanisms. Parliament and the Council adopt legislation setting the framework for financing the EU’s international cooperation and aid, based on a Commission proposal. The IIA also specifies, since 2006, that the Council should immediately inform Parliament of decisions concerning CFSP expenditure, and that the JCMs should take place at least five times a year.
Parliament regularly scrutinises the operations of the EEAS and provides it with suggestions on structural issues, ranging from its geographical and gender balance to its interaction with other EU institutions and the diplomatic services of the Member States. Parliament also holds regular discussions with the High Representative and the EUSRs appointed for certain regions or issues.
Parliament also has a role to play in monitoring the negotiation and implementation of international agreements. Parliament’s consent is required before the Council can conclude such agreements (for more details 5.2.1, 5.2.3).
Internal Parliament structures involved in the CFSP
Much of Parliament’s work on the CFSP is done in specialised committees, in particular AFET and its subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), and in the Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE). Their work is complemented by the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Development (DEVE). These committees shape the CFSP through the reports and opinions they issue, by providing recommendations, exchanging views with counterparts in non-EU countries during missions, and by means of parliamentary democracy. They also regularly exchange views with representatives of global and regional multilateral organisations (including the United Nations), other EU institutions, the Council presidencies and Member States’ national parliaments.
CFSP-related work is also undertaken by parliamentary delegations, whose role is to maintain and develop Parliament’s international contacts (especially through interparliamentary cooperation), promoting the Union’s founding values, including liberty, democracy, human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. There are currently 48 standing interparliamentary delegations, including joint parliamentary committees, parliamentary cooperation committees, other parliamentary delegations, joint parliamentary assemblies and delegations to multilateral assemblies.
Parliament’s impact on the CFSP
Parliament’s involvement in the CFSP helps to enhance the policy’s democratic accountability. Parliament has strongly supported the post-Lisbon institutional landscape, advocating an enhanced role for the High Representative, the EEAS, the EU delegations and the EUSRs, as well as a more coherent policy and a more effective CFSP, including sanctions. It has pushed for greater coherence among the EU’s political and financial instruments for external policies, in order to avoid duplication and inefficiency.
Parliament is consulted on the CFSP, exercises scrutiny over it and provides strategic policy input. Its involvement is centred on regular debates on key foreign policy topics with the High Representative in the plenary session or in the AFET committee, in particular on the annual report on the implementation of the CFSP.
In its 2024 annual report on the implementation of the CFSP, adopted on 2 April 2025, Parliament offered guidance on the EU’s foreign policy priorities, highlighting the ‘ever-volatile international environment’, and that the EU needs to simultaneously tackle numerous foreign policy challenges affecting it directly or indirectly, such as the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East, increasing great power competition, constant attempts to undermine the multilateral rules-based international order and an increased nexus of foreign and internal crises. It proposes concrete policy action with regard to incentivising cooperation with like-minded partners and fostering EU action abroad. Parliament also calls for stronger parliamentary oversight over the EU’s external action, and makes concrete proposals for the upcoming Commission proposal for a new post-2027 multiannual financial framework.
Moreover, Parliament’s latest annual reports on the implementation of the CSDP (for more details 5.1.2), and on human rights and democracy in the world (for more details 5.4.1), set out further positions in these areas.
In its recent expression of political guidance with regard to the EU’s institutional framework for external action, Parliament proposed, in its recommendation of 15 March 2023 on the functioning of the EEAS and a stronger EU in the world, that the Council, the Commission and the High Representative ‘improve the coordination and integration of EU foreign policy and the external dimension of EU internal policies’. It also asked for the reinforcement of ‘the strategic coordination structure composed of all relevant commissioners, the High Representative and the Commission and EEAS services to ensure coherence, synergy, transparency and accountability of the EU’s external action’. Parliament also advocated meaningful revisions of both the 2010 Council Decision establishing the EEAS and the High Representative’s 2010 declaration on political accountability. Parliament repeatedly recommended the full use of qualified majority voting for certain foreign policy areas, such as the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, except for the creation of military missions or operations with an executive mandate, and advocated the use of constructive abstention in line with Article 31(1) TEU in the meantime.
In addition, it asked for effective delivery of foreign assistance under the brand of ‘Team Europe’. Team Europe was established as a response to the global consequences of COVID-19 and is composed of EU institutions and Member States’ and European external funding agencies and banks.
The EU’s foreign policy strategic framework and the European Parliament
The High Representative presented the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy to the European Council on 28 June 2016. With its emphasis on security, its ambition for strategic autonomy and its principled yet pragmatic approach to Europe’s environment, the EU Global Strategy signifies an important change of philosophy from the 2003 European Security Strategy. Together with Member States, national parliaments, experts and the wider public, the European Parliament was involved in the Global Strategy consultation process.
The EU Global Strategy’s security and defence aspects were substantially complemented by the EU Strategic Compass endorsed by the European Council on 24 and 25 March 2022. As a consequence of the strategic challenge to European security and global stability posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has recently undergone a paradigm shift and launched several new initiatives on CSDP and the defence industry (for more details 5.1.2).
The White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030 maps the rapidly deteriorating strategic context.
Furthermore, in order to provide for a sustainable option for global infrastructure investment and to rise to the geopolitical challenge posed by China’s investment and governance model, the EU came up with a Global Gateway strategy in 2021. This initiative aims to raise up to EUR 300 billion in public and private investment in various sectors of connectivity around the world, promoting EU values and a global rulebook at the same time. Parliament also highlighted in its 2024 annual report on the implementation of the CFSP that the Global Gateway is a strategic concept integrating foreign, economic and development policy, increasing the EU’s presence and visibility worldwide. This initiative relies partly on money from the EU budget’s ‘Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe’ (NDICI – Global Europe), worth approximately EUR 80 billion in 2021-2027. In its resolution of 12 December 2023 on the implementation of the NDICI – Global Europe, Parliament welcomed the consolidation of most of the EU’s external action into a single instrument. However, even if this has made the external action simpler and more flexible and efficient, Parliament expressed regret that the process was not accompanied by enough accountability and transparency (for more details 5.3.1).
For more information on this topic please see the website of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET).
Michal Malovec