The Diverging Foreign Policies

The governments of the United Kingdom and Germany have represented diverging positions regarding some issues in foreign and security policy, the former being more "Atlanticist" and the latter - along with France - closer to the idea of a more integrated European stance on foreign affairs. Our research question points to some of the reasons that may underlie the policies followed by these two important member states of the European Union in respect to the Iraq crisis. Any progress in the development of an effective CFSP is subjected to a change, not necessarily from inter-governmental to a supranational policy, but by the incorporation of diverse reforms as proposed by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Working Group where a decision-making process based on majority vote rather than unanimity becomes a corner stone. This is reaffirmed by the opinion of author Wolfgang Wagner. The crisis in Iraq can only enhance the necessity of the EU to talk with one voice if its political weight should in the future outbalance its economic power.In the end, the problem of European CFSP is that politics cannot produce effective policies due to a lacking polity.

Autorentext

Horacio Max Larrain L. : Master of Arts in European Political Studies