Diplomatic Representation of the EU Over Time

Abstract

Having discussed diplomatic representation and the centralization thereof conceptually, let us now turn to European practice. The following chapter will review the historical development of how the diplomatic representations of the EU have been able to centralize European diplomacy. This review will point out what factors have accelerated or inhibited the centralization of European diplomacy throughout the past decades and across different countries in the world. I will first examine the development of the EU Delegations’ predecessors, the Commission Delegations, from the early 1950s until 2008, the year before the Lisbon Treaty came into effect. Thereafter, a close look will be taken at how the Treaty of Lisbon fosters the Delegations’ impact to centralize European diplomacy and what limitations remain.