Will 27 Become One? The Linkage between Europe's Domestic and Foreign Politics and the Prospect of a Single EU Seat at the United Nations Security Council

Abstract

This chapter argues that the idea of creating a single European Union (EU) seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) does not currently serve the EU’s best interests. Beyond the legal acrobatics that would be required, a single EU seat at the UNSC would destabilize Franco-German relations and exacerbate the strong tensions over sovereignty among EU Member States. The Franco-German alliance, which has driven European integration since the late 1950s, is predicated on a precarious balance between French diplomatic and military power and German economic power. Removing sovereign prerogatives in foreign policy would threaten the stability of the Franco-German engine, threatening the stability of the European project. Member States have competing domestic political agendas with different strategic calculi and varied international alliance patterns, preventing them from coalescing around a single foreign policy goal. Creating a single EU seat at the UNSC would likely cause internal dissent and fragmentation rather than create unity and foreign policy coherence. This lesson applies more broadly to EU integration efforts in the sphere of foreign policy; understanding the historical and contemporary developments of the EU’s approach to a single seat at the UNSC provides a glimpse into the future unity of EU foreign policy.