Two years after the appointment of Catherine Ashton to the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and one year after the introduction of the European External Action Service (EEAS), an analysis of the (limited) results so far achieved is required.

‘ISPI Studies’ cover this issue by highlighting the drawbacks of the new EU diplomatic corps in terms of efficiency of the internal decision-making process and external representation.

This also implies the fine-tuning, if not plain redefinition, of the EU strategic role in the international arena: a most necessary move if the EU – whose international standing is already challenged by today’s debt crisis – intends to escape the fate of a declining power. Clearly, this has to be done in the framework of a renewed EU-US relation where objectives, tools and burden-sharing between the two sides of the Atlantic are reconsidered to better fit in the emerging balance of power of the XXI century. Scholars and experts contributed to the ‘ISPI Studies’ by providing analysis, insights and policy recommendations.

• Download: Europe Abroad: Carving Out a New Place in the International Arena, novembre 2011