Development and Challenges of the European Union’s External Relations

Foreign relations policies of the European Union are under the continuous challenge to balance out the objectives of the internal market, the EU’s constitutional principles and the pursuit of legitimate geopolitical interests. This trilemma is a result of political history, as is the relationship between its components that have been modified repeatedly after paradigm shifts in international relations in general. Presently, the EU is under pressure to react on a new geopolitical constellation. So far, the framework of the Founding Treaties, as it has been reformed moderately in various steps, has proved flexible enough to cope with new developments such as, for instance, its enlargement in 2004 and the recent reorientation in the Common Security and Defence Policy. In the next round of enlargement at the latest, however, some principal changes in the Treaties’ institutional architecture will be inevitable.