Diplomatic Trends in the European Community

Abstract

T: may seem absurdly optimistic, or simply unrealistic, to talk about common patterns in European diplomacy at a point where the European Community is making only limited progress, where Political Cooperation has reached a plateau in its development, and where changes and reform proposals in national diplomatic services display only limited parallels and take only indirect account of the common European context in which they now operate. A number of common features are nevertheless discernible. All the diplomatic services of the nine member governments face common pressures and problems created by changes in the international environment within which they operate. Membership of the Community itself imposes distinctive obligations and tasks. Cumulatively, moreover, the European Community itself is evolving a diplomatic persona alongside the separate activities of each member government, presenting a common European presence in international diplomacy. The common pressures which bear in on each of the nine governments need only brief rehearsal here. The multilateralisation of international diplomacy, reflected not only in relations among the Community member states but also in the whole spread of international life, from the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe to the North-South Dialogue, increases the work-load on diplomatic services, affects the operations of bilateral missions, imposes common burdens of co-ordination and consultation among the Nine (or among 'Group B ' in global organisations), and in addition often involves substantial orchestration of domestic interests in the national capitals. The continuing expansion of the international community, with UN membership now passing the 150 mark, has stretched the resources of even the larger diplomatic services, and has forced questions about sharing facilities in small states where interests are minimal but where diplomatic offices are occasionally needed. With the parallel pressures on national diplomatic services arising out of participation in the vast number of multilateral conferences and organisations, manpower and budgetary constraints press harder on national diplomatic services-particularly as governments struggle to control the growth of overall expenditure in a period of recession and popular resistance to high taxation.