(Not) in the Hands of the Member States: How the European Commission Influences EU Security and Defence Policies

Abstract

AbstractThe European Union's (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is run using special procedures. The Member States have not delegated powers to the supranational institutions. Yet a number of studies challenge the assumption that policy‐making lies exclusively with Member States’ governments. The Commission's putative influence within the CFSP, however, remains to be studied systematically from an analytical perspective. Aiming to fill this gap in the literature, this article asks how the Commission de facto influences EU foreign and security policies beyond its delegated powers. Two least likely cases are analysed: the launch of EU naval mission Atalanta and the adoption of an EU Maritime Security Strategy. By adressing this question, the article contributes to a better understanding of the level of EU foreign policy integration. It also adds knowledge on the possible causes of this development, and thus to the EU integration literature more generally.