ABSTRACT
The passage above stems from the European Security Strategy (ESS) adopted by the member-states of the European Union (EU) in 2003 and revised in 2008. The aim of the ESS is to develop a strategic perspective towards the main challenges for and threats to the EU in a globalised world. One of the central messages of this key document is that the EU ought to play a primary role in international relations, not only out of narrow self-interest but also because it has an obligation to contribute to global development and the promotion of human rights and democracy. This reasoning also permeates the foreign-policy provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force in 2009 and is the current legal basis for the EU. Nonetheless, disunity amongst European states in the foreign policy area is a recurrent phenomenon that renders such ambitions in doubt.
