FULL TEXT

• Maria Mirona Murea, PhD, Affiliation: The Faculty of International Business and Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania.

The European Union represents a unique form of cooperation between 28 Member States, which accessed this economic and political partnership on a voluntary basis. The EU enlagrement process has been perceived by the EU, as an opportunity to further and deepen the integration process of the continent through peaceful means. EU has proven a transformational polity, providing proper political mechanisms beyond the state, which leads to the question wether there exist proper mechanisms for a diplomacy beyond the state, thus transforming the EU into a complex international actor. To the national diplomatic system was added the institutionalized system in the field of EU’s Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP). The level of institutionalization and the manner of delegating competencies at supranational level allowed the development of a diplomatic governance of the Community. Put under a magnifying glass, the progress of EU integration is influenced by two major groups of diplomats, that represent the central crafting of a new European security space on behalf of the Member States: the Committee of Permanent Representatives II (also known as COREPER) and the Political and Security Commitee (PSC). COREPER is focused around internal security issues, while the PSC is concentrates its attention around solving external security and crisis situation issues. Cooperation in the field of internal affairs is an area of high importance in the current international relations. Border management, migration, asylum, the fight against organized crime and terrorism are topics of interest to the challenges that EU’s diplomacy is facing today. This article analyses the institutional framework of COREPER and PSC and their effectiveness in today’s turbulent political and economic climate, in the attempt to answer the question: "Who is EU representing, or on whose behalf is EU acting?"

 FULL TEXT