EU Voting Behaviour in the UN General Assembly, 1990-2002: The EU's Europeanising Tendencies

Abstract

This article examines the voting record in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) between 1990 and 2002 of the fifteen EU member states, acting first within a European political cooperation (EPC) framework and subsequently within the scope of the EU's common foreign and security policy (CFSP). EU member states have been committed to coordinating their actions within the UNGA under the EU presidency, with successive EU presidency reports suggesting that, due to these efforts, the EU is an increasingly important player within the UN. This paper examines the level of cohesion among the EU states by looking at the member states' voting patterns within the UNGA, and it also considers the implications of the 2004 EU enlargement to include ten new member states. It is argued that participation in the European Union has led to an increasing Europeanisation of member state foreign policies; although there are notable exceptions where the member states do not vote as a group.