The European Union's "external action plus" is an assortment of policy areas with varying legal competences that may be linked and interact in ways that enable more effective, coherent and sustainable external action. This paper explores the policy linkages and how they can best be coordinated in support of EU external engagement in crisis as well as non-crisis situations.

The rules and procedures of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy often seem to stand in the way of effective external action. Alongside a more general reform of decision-making processes, this paper recommends a gradual shift to Qualified Majority Voting and a further investment into improved intelligence sharing.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, specifically with regard to its legal basis, governance structures, operational deployments and capability development. To make defence cooperation among Member States more effective, coherent and sustainable, this working paper advances a set of recommendations.