The EU as a Soft Power: the Force of Persuasion

Abstract

The intra-European row that broke out in the build-up to the war in Iraq brought home the fragility of the European foreign policy regime. Existing and future member states publicly demonstrated their diverging positions regarding the appropriate stance to take in relation to the United States. For outside observers, this seemed to prove the futility of seeking to establish a common foreign and security policy among the member states of the EU, which continue placing national priorities before shared European objectives. From this perspective, the EU would forever remain a political dwarf despite its status as an economic giant.