Towards a European Diplomatic System?

In the context of the ongoing process of 'widening' and 'deepening' of the European Union, and particularly in the light of the changes heralded in the new Constitution, this paper examines the development of a proto-European diplomatic system. It sketches the historical background to the process, outlines what is being proposed in the Constitution, and considers the implications of these developments for both the diplomatic systems of Member States and the future conduct of EU international policy. The paper suggests that crucial determinants of the successful synthesis between the proprietary attitudes towards foreign policy-making exhibited by the foreign services of Member States and the supranational leanings of the Commission will be the development of the European project itself, the responses of the state to the pressures associated with globalisation and regionalisation, and the adaptive strategies adopted by specific foreign ministries.

About the authors

Brian Hocking is Professor of International Relations at Coventry University. David Spence is a First Counsellor in the EC Delegation, Geneva. This paper is based on a new chapter in the reprinted paperback edition of B. Hocking and D. Spence, Foreign Ministries in the European Union: Integrating Diplomats, (Houndmills, Palgrave, forthcoming 2005). David Spence's forthcoming book The European Commission will be published by Harper and is expected in September 2005.