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Democracy promotion / Working Paper

New Governments, New Directions in European Foreign Policies?

10/01/2007 By Jos Boonstra, David Mathieson, Richard Youngs

In a number of EU member states, new governments have recently taken office; in others, a change in leadership is imminent. New governments have taken office in the last 15 months in Germany, Italy and Sweden.

A new governing coalition is being formed in the Netherlands following elections in November 2006. And, of course, president Jacques Chirac and prime minister Tony Blair are almost certain to leave office in the first half of 2007.

Against this backdrop, we asked experts from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK to examine how these political changes are changing or are likely to change their respective state’s foreign policies.

The six short essays that follow reveal the inevitable mix of change and continuity in national foreign policies, but also a number of clear and important trends:

• The priority concern with rebalancing strategic relations between the European Union and the United States, member states potentially converging on a middle ground of views on transatlantic relations;
• Clear uncertainty provoked by a new cooling of opinion towards further EU enlargement;
• Some more high profile debate over democracy and human rights promotion, but with a continuing failure of these issues to attain clear priority status in European foreign policies; and
• Vibrant debates between political parties within each state, but with a continuing influence of nationally-distinctive strategic cultures.

These essays pertain to a particular moment in time, as member states either await elections or adjust to new governments. It is hoped they provide a necessarily selective but stimulating snapshot of this changing juncture within European politics.

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Keywords

EU Foreign Policy Europe France Germany Italy Netherlands Political Reform Sweden United Kingdom

Bio author: Jos Boonstra

Jos Boonstra is senior researcher in the democratisation programme of FRIDE. He focusses on EU, NATO and OSCE policies in Eastern Europe and beyond with specific attention to democratisation of security and defence.

Bio author: David Mathieson

PhD in Modern History and Economics from the University of London. He has published numerous articles in Expansión, El País, El Correo, La Razón, the magazine Temas para el Deabte, The Guardian, Tribune, The New Statesman and the Foreign Policy Centre.

Bio author: Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs is Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Democratisation programme at FRIDE. He also lectures at the University of Warwick in the UK. He studied at Cambridge (BA Hons) and Warwick (MA, PhD) universities.