Values and Interests in Post-Lisbon European Union Foreign Policy

The European Union has a Treaty-based duty to propagate its own values beyond its borders and pursue a holistic approach in its external relations. The establishment of the European External Action Service has brought the values and interests agendas together, particularly through the ‘merger’ of the Community and inter-governmental foreign policy pillars. EU foreign policy, including the values agenda, works best with Member State buy-in, and hence the engagement of Member States’ diplomacy alongside the Union’s. The High Representative-led initiative to broker a Syrian peace deal illustrates both the limits and the potential of the EU’s values-and-interests approach in the future.