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The High Representative of the Union the Constrained Agent of Europe’S Foreign Policy

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The High Representative of the Union The constrained agent of Europe’s foreign policy Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln 2014 vorgelegt von Dipl.-Volksw. Niklas Helwig aus Schwalmstadt Referent: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels, Universität zu Köln Korreferent: Dr. Juliet Kaarbo, University of Edinburgh Tag der Promotion: 8. September 2014 Fr Oma Acknowledgements It would not have been possible to write this doctoral thesis without the help and support of the kind people around me, to only some of whom it is possible to give particular mention here. I would like to thank the EXACT Marie Curie ITN on EU external action funded by the European Commission for their generous financial, intellectual and administrative support. The extremely well-organised project director Wulf Reiners deserves a special mention. Without his cool-headed management, the ambitious endeavour of a European-wide PhD school would hardly have been as successful as it was. EXACT provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and the other early-stage re- searchers to connect, learn and grow. I would like to thank my supervisors. I am grateful for the ideas and encouragement of John Peterson over the past four years. Especially during the period that the EXACT fellows were based in Edinburgh, he took great care of us, making sure we felt at home and as a part of the scientific community of the Politics and International Relations de- partment. I know for sure that my academic progress so far would not have been possible without my second supervisor and mentor, Wolf- gang Wessels. For almost ten years I have been able to count on his help as my professor and ‘boss’ at the Jean-Monnet-Chair for European Politics in Cologne. I am grateful for his incisive academic advice and his loyal support. The study benefitted considerably from the input of peers and fellow academics at conferences and workshops around Europe. While it is impossible to name all individuals that shared their thoughts with me, I want to acknowledge the help and comments that I received from Geoffrey Edwards, Brigid Laffan, Robert Kissack, Chad Damro, Elfriede Regelsberger, Anne Faber, Ramses Wessel, Cristina Gallach, Julia Lieb, Gianni Bonvicini and Hanna Ojanen. Given the ever- evolving nature of my research topic, authoritative advice from people who know their way around the academic literature and the practical side of EU politics was indispensable. I very much enjoyed the inter- views with the over fifty officials and diplomats that I met in the ‘Brus- sels-bubble’ and in the foreign ministries in Helsinki and Berlin. I am II The constrained agent of Europe’s foreign policy grateful for their willingness to take their time and share their invaluable insights and views with me. In all the years that I worked and studied at the Jean-Monnet-Chair in Cologne I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the friendship and enlighten- ing support of my colleagues. Thank you Nicole Ahler, Aline Barten- stein, Udo Diedrichs, Cyril Gläser, Andreas Hofman, Oliver Höing, Nadia Klein, Tobias Kunstein, Jonas Kranz, Alice Anna Oeter, Mirja Schröder, Funda Tekin, Thomas Traguth and Gaby Umbach. The research stays at the think tanks in Brussels and Helsinki were the highlights of my years as a doctoral student. Not only did I benefit from being part of these dynamic and well-connected research envi- ronments, but I also had a great time with the new friends I made. From CEPS, I will remember the stimulating conversations with Piotr Kaczyński, Paul Ivan and Hrant Kostanyan on our common research topic, but also the fun we had with the folks from the big shared office space in the attic (aka ‘the library’). The table tennis and charades ses- sions with Giovanni Faleg, Marjolein van den Broek, Nafisa Hasanova and Alessandro Giovannini provided legendary as well as necessary breaks from our daily routine. I received an overwhelmingly friendly and warm welcome when I ar- rived in ice-cold Helsinki in November 2011 to work at FIIA. I am grateful for the support and advice of Teija Tiilikainen, Juha Jokela and Kristi Raik who introduced me to the Finnish-style thinking on aca- demic research and European politics. I soon learnt that Finns not only know how to do good research, but also how to make the most out of the long winter nights, especially thanks to the help of Timo Behr, An- na-Kaisa Hiltunen, Juho Hynynen, Eeva Innola, Julia Jansson, Kaisa Korhonen and Harri Mikkola. The University of Edinburgh proved an ideal location to write my manuscript, as the rainy weather provided no excuse to leave my desk and Scottish whisky enhanced my creativity. I made wonderful friends and learnt many interesting things. I would specifically like to thank: Rosalind Cavaghan, Friedrich Eierdanz, Barbara Gaweda, Juliet Kaar- bo, Victoria Loughlan, Cera Murtagh, Ines Sofia de Oliveira, Nina Perkowski, Mason Robbins, Mor Sobol and Aydin Yildirim. Acknowledgements III I was extremely lucky to be in very good company in the EXACT pro- gramme during the past years and not having to go through the hard- ship of writing a PhD alone. Not only through the experiences we shared during legendary research(!) trips to Ghana, Iceland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Scotland, Finland, Estonia, Israel, Sardinia, Berlin, Cyprus and Ireland, we became close friends. Thank you for the good times Vanessa, Andrew, Leonhard, Dana, Marlene, Miguel, Nicole, James, Tatjana, Andreas, Anita, Marco, Simon and Peter. Though I was moving around Europe quite a lot in the last years, I could always count on my friends to stay in contact and visit me. It is good to have friends like Malte, Hucke, Jan, Line, Raphael, Hauke, Jan M. and Robin. It is extremely important to know that my family is always there for me and just a telephone call or a short flight away. I would not want to miss the extensive weekly telephone session with my mother. She made this thesis possible, as my interest in political science started with the discussions on politics that I had with her as a child. I would have nev- er gotten as far without Ute, Jochen, Lukas, Daniel, Carina, Lenja, An- ton, Oskar, Julia, Sven, Mattis, Rosi, Alec and Merja. To Annina: Rakastan sinua! You helped me through the ups and downs of these often challenging times and always knew how to make me smile. Without your moral and also your practical support, this would hardly have been possible. Abstract This study argues that the High Representative of the Union for For- eign Affairs and Security Policy is a constrained agent of Europe’s for- eign policy. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty reform created the remodelled version of the High Representative of the Union as a potentially power- ful agent to represent and coordinate Europe’s foreign policy. Howev- er, the analysis shows how and why the member states granted only limited discretion to the new foreign policy actor during the first years of the post’s existence. The aim of the study is to reveal the conditions of discretion of the High Representative. With the use of a principal- agent (PA) approach, the study shows that conflicting preferences of the member states, tight control mechanisms, as well as inadequate cooperation with the European Commission limited the High Repre- sentative’s room for manoeuvre. The findings suggest that the PA ap- proach can be developed further in the future in order to better explain limited discretion of agents in matters of foreign policy. Based on the findings, the study also puts forward a number of characteristics of a ‘constrained agent’. It is suggested that the post of High Representative has the potential to emancipate from its status of a constrained agent over time, and to gain credibility as a foreign policy actor. Word count: 72,906 (main text, including footnotes) Deutsche Zusammenfassung: Der Hohe Vertreter der EU: der eingeschrnkte Agent der Europischen Auenpolitik Die vorliegende Studie setzt sich mit dem Posten des Hohen Vertreters der EU für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik auseinander, welcher mit dem Lissabonner Vertrag in 2009 geschaffen wurde. Mithilfe der Prin- zipal-Agent Theorie wird argumentiert, dass es sich bei dem Hohen Vertreter um einen eingeschränkten Agenten der Mitgliedstaaten han- delt. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung weisen darauf hin, dass die In- novationen des Lissaboner Vertrages nur einen geringen positiven Ef- fekt auf den Handlungsspielraum des Hohen Vertreters hatten. Der Hohe Vertreter wurde von den Mitgliedstaaten geschaffen, um die Ef- fizienz der Europäischen Außenpolitik zu erhöhen, jedoch erhielt er zum Zeitpunkt der Studie entweder keine Handlungsmandate oder, in anderen Fällen, nur einen geringen Spielraum in seinem Amt. Das Grundproblem zeigt sich in der optionalen und intergouvernemen- talen Gestalt der Europäischen Außenpolitik, welche auch weiterhin nach dem Lissaboner Vertrag fortbesteht. In diesem Bereich wurden keine Kompetenzen nach Brüssel verlagert und außenpolitische Ent- scheidungen werden nach wie vor von den Mitgliedstaaten einstimmig getroffen. Zugleich unterbrach der zügige Aufbau neuer außenpoliti- scher Strukturen in Brüssel zeitweise die Verbindung zwischen mit- gliedstaatlichen Verwaltungen und dem neuen Außenbeauftragten. Der Hohe Vertreter zeigte sich weder in der Lage die Autorität seines Am- tes zu konsolidieren, noch die institutionelle Kooperation mit der Eu- ropäischen Kommission voranzutreiben. Die Studie beschäftigt sich mit den Voraussetzungen für einen Hand- lungsspielraum des Hohen Vertreters. Der Handlungsspielraum ist eine Entscheidende Voraussetzung für den Hohen Vertreter um sein Amt effizient zu führen und mehr als nur Kompromisslösungen im Klub der 28 Mitgliedstaaten zu erzielen. Jedoch haben die Mitgliedstaaten Be- denken über einen möglichen Verlust ihrer Souveränität und sind daran gelegen den Handlungsspielraum supranationaler Akteure einzuschrän- ken. Dieses Spannungsverhältnis, zwischen den Vorteilen eines hand- VIII The constrained agent of Europe’s foreign policy lungsfähigen Außenbeauftragten und den Souveränitätsbedenken der Mitgliedsstaaten, ist der Hintergrund dieser Analyse.
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