Project Overview

The coherence and effectiveness of the EU’s foreign policy depends upon its ability to reconcile Member States’ interests and to harness the multiple tools at its disposal in a joined-up fashion.

To provide policymakers with recommendations for improving the capacities and capabilities of the EU’s external action, ENGAGE pursues the following objectives:

• Analyse the main contextual challenges that the EU’s external action faces, including those originating from the diversification of international relations and from questions of acceptability in the eyes of citizens and national decision makers.

• Assess existing governance structures and policy processes related to the multiple domains of the EU’s external action.

• Examine the ways in which the EU can more effectively achieve its goals, including engagement with strategic partners, neighbouring regions, and conflict and crisis scenarios.

• Formulate policy recommendations on how to accommodate multiple action domains, including traditionally internal policy areas, in a joined-up, coherent, sustainable and effective external action.

• Inform policymakers on the governance structures needed to ensure joined-up and sustainable EU diplomatic action and international cooperation.