The European Union has more and more far-reaching competences in external
relations than ever before. It is legally committed to a long list of ambitious and
comprehensive foreign policy objectives. Arguably, the Union’s foreign policy
objectives (Article 21 TEU) are more ambitious and comprehensive than the foreign
policy objectives set out in the national constitutions of the Member States. At the
same time, Member States have in recent years challenged Union external actions in
an unprecedented number of cases, including in order to reign in Union action and
constrain Union powers.
On the one hand, in an ever more globalised world it is rational for the EU
Member States to confer powers to the Union in order to have jointly a greater say
of how global challenges are tackled and what role the Union and its Member States
are playing internationally. On the other hand, Member States are ever more
heterogeneous in their interests and views of (how to tackle) these challenges. This
edited collection unearths and reflects on some of these tensions, including in the
areas of the environment, migration and Brexit.