DELEXPOL · Evaluating the Post-Lisbon Effects of Delegation in the EU External Relations

The research addresses the coherence of EU’s external action after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. Empirically the project focuses on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and Development Aid. The main questions: in what ways has the Lisbon Treaty affected the delegation patterns amongst actors in framing EU’s external policies? How does the new institutional set-up impact the positioning of individual EU Member States in external relations?The research aims to analyse the increasing tendencies of bilateralism in the EU’s external relations by using an innovative method - principle-agent model, which so far has not been applied to the research of the EEAS. Following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the function of external representation by the Council Presidency has been replaced by the multi-institutional actor, - the EEAS comprising the representatives from the European Commission, the Council Secretariat and individual Member States. Effective policy co-ordination is one of the cornerstones of an efficient external policy. Systematic academic studies that present the member states’ perspective are still rare. By analysing the modifications brought about by the Lisbon Treaty, the impact of the multilateral governance structure of the EEAS on the positioning of the individual member states will be explored and policy recommendations at the national and EU levels provided.The scope of the study stretches across several policy areas, such as human rights, the rule of law, trade and democratization. All these policy aspects are a part of the research scope of the study, - the ENP and Development Aid. The research objective is highly relevant with respect to the current discussions around the efficiency of the EU’s external representation on the one hand, and the future importance of the ENP and Development Aid on the other. A comparative research with at least two EU member states.