Here are some excerpts from a panel discussion held on April 8, 2010 to discuss the past, present and future of EU foreign policy in Washington DC by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.

One of Washington’s oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development.

One of the panelist was Andrew Moravcsik, Professor of Politics – Director of the European Union Program at the Princeton University.

Andrew Moravcsik: “Baroness Ashton’s position is essentially, broadly speaking, a takeover by the member states of traditional commission prerogatives in foreign policy. It’s presented as a melding of commission prerogatives and council prerogatives, member state actions like diplomacy and traditional EU actions like funding and trade. But, in fact, it’s the member states clawing back power, like control over the EU delegation here in Washington, like control over funding; clawing back policy power back into the hands of member states.

Andrew Moravcsik “We’re going to see increased power for this European diplomatic corps, which is going to be, by current plans, one-third people seconded from the members states. Again, a movement of member state control into what were traditionally EU bureaucratic activities. This is going to be a slow moving, incremental process, the way it always is in the EU, and then we’re going to wake up 10 years from now and we’re going to see the kind of changes that Dan Hamilton was talking about”

Note:

This panel is part of an ongoing joint series of briefings and discussions on the future of the European Union. The discussion featured Giuliano Amato, former Italian prime minister, who wrote a preface for the book; Andrew Moravcsik, professor at Princeton, who contributed to the book; Dan Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations; and Pierre Vimont, the French ambassador to the United States. Michael Calingaert, a visiting scholar in CUSE, introduced the panel, and Federiga Bindi moderated the discussion.

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0408_european_union.aspx