The EU’s Discourse on Sovereignty: Content and Consequences

Abstract

Emmanuel Macron‟s 2017 speeches gave start to the discourse on the European Union‟s (EU‟s) sovereignty. This discourse has been advanced by the national and supranational elite of the EU as well as by its expert community. The article identifies key characteristics of this discourse and its potential consequences for the EU and its relations with Russia. The four ways (attributes) in which sovereignty has been used as identified by Stephen Krasner are used as the theoretical basis of the analysis. With the help of discourse analysis, the author identifies three dimensions in the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty: these are Westphalian, interdependence and domestic sovereignties. The first and the second manifest themselves in the economic field (in particular, in the regulation of the digital sphere), the third one is linked to the discussion on cooperation in the field of security and defence. The discussion on strengthening of the supranational level in the field of security and defence substitutes the absence of the discussion on citizens as holders of domestic sovereignty; it limits the potential of the EU‟s sovereignty. De facto, the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty is a response to global processes, where the EU finds challenges and threats for itself. References to values and to the EU as its agent form an important component of the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty. Externally the EU as a result demonstrates both its wish for more independence from external players and its determination to maintain its participation in the globalization processes. The rhetoric of sovereignty also conceptually means the EU‟s refusal of ambitions to be a normative power. Sovereignty has also been an integral part of EU-Russian discussions. Yet the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty does not create any prospects for improving this relationship.