The Common European Foreign Policy: Features of Reality and Challenges of the Future

Abstract

In this study, we dealt with the topic: "The Common European Foreign Policy: Features of Reality and Challenges of the Future", through five main axes: The first axis: the establishment of the “European Union”, the second: the common European foreign policy: an overview, the third: the objectives of the common European foreign policy, The fourth: the mechanisms of the common European foreign policy. The fifth: the most prominent challenges that impede the achievement of the common foreign policy of the European Union. Focus was placed on the most prominent internal and external challenges, the first of which is ten: the problem of political harmony, disputes related to national sovereignty, European differences and divisions as a result of divergent interests, rejection of the European constitution,The problems of the European Union budget and the allocations of the common foreign policy, the issue of the difference of cultures in Europe, the “new expansion” with the accession of other countries to the membership of the European Union, the course of decision-making and its problems, the increasing state of skepticism about the European Union, and finally the Russian-Ukrainian war in Europe. As for the most prominent external challenges: the limited political weight of Europe in the international system, the relationship with the United States of America, and the continued influence of the European Union on the international arena.

What can be concluded from this study is that the European Union, as a regional bloc, has succeeded in achieving economic integration, which generated the desire to continue the process of integration and move from economic integration to the desire to achieve political integration represented in the unification of the common foreign and security policy.

Since the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of challenges that pose a threat to European security, European trends have increased towards thinking about formulating a common foreign and security policy.

The weakness in the foreign policy of the European Union is due to the division of the Union countries in defining an accurate concept of the common foreign and security policy, as well as the different characteristics of countries and their political culture, and the relations of some European Union countries with the United States of America.

The reliable strategy for achieving effectiveness and progress in the common foreign policy is the strong political will, through which the European Union can stand on solid ground and strengthen its political power in the international community.