When Speaking with a Single Voice Falls Short: A comparative case study on the extent to which the EU’s internal cohesiveness impacts its effectiveness on the global stage

Sammanfattning

The notion that a unified EU is a more effective Union is a prominent, but contested assumption within the field of EU external action. But how relevant is the EU’s unity for the attainment of its foreign policy objectives? For issues of political salience, such as migration, EU unity carries particular relevance. This thesis asks: to what extent does the European Union’s level of cohesiveness affect the level of its effectiveness in external action? By building upon a theoretical framework of da Conceição-Heldt and Meunier (2014) that assesses the relationship between cohesiveness and effectiveness and by applying a Structured Focused Comparison, two cases of negotiations between the EU and a third country in the policy area of migration are compared: the EU-Turkey Statement in 2016, and the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding in 2023. The paper’s findings support the assumption that cohesiveness is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure the EU’s effectiveness in external action, suggesting that the leverage of third countries negotiating with the EU conditions the relationship in bilateral migration negotiations. Further research is encouraged to determine if third country behaviour also conditions the cohesiveness-effectiveness relationship in other policy areas, such as military operations and energy.