Global EU: CFSP, Trade and External Action
The EU as a global actor
The Common Foreign and Security Policy is intergovernmental: the European Council sets strategic direction, the High Representative (also a Commission Vice-President) and the EEAS conduct policy, and the Council decides - normally by unanimity, with constructive abstention; implementing decisions may use QMV. CSDP covers civilian and military missions. Trade is an exclusive EU competence (Article 207 TFEU): the Commission negotiates under a Council mandate, the Council concludes, and the European Parliament gives consent. Development cooperation, enlargement, the neighbourhood, sanctions and the Global Gateway complete the toolkit. “Strategic autonomy” means capacity to act, not isolation.
Traps and rule of thumb
Traps: treating CFSP as supranational; confusing CFSP with trade or development policy; forgetting EP consent for trade agreements; forgetting that mixed agreements need national ratification; assuming the HR commands troops. Rule of thumb: “ask who decides - Member States unanimously, or the Union by QMV or exclusive competence.” Worked example: a new free trade agreement requires a Council negotiating mandate, Commission negotiation, a Council decision and EP consent; if it covers investment and Member State competences, it is mixed and national parliaments must ratify.