Common Foreign and Security Policy 5. The CFSP and the EC - Institutional Relationships

As a part of the EU project both the European Commission and the European Parliament have a role to play in the CFSP.

Commission:
Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission
  • Where EPC was entirely intergovernmental and independent of the European Commission, under CFSP, the Commission has a consultative role to play in the decision-making process.
Parliament:
  • Where the European Parliament had no role in the EPC, under CFSP the Parliament is kept informed of decisions taken and is consulted on issues that arise
  • The Parliament is also able to put questions and recommendations to the Council and holds an annual debate on the progress towards implementing common policies.

While both of these developments are obviously limited in their impact, they constitute a foundation on which in future both the Parliament and the Commission may become more meaningfully involved in the CFSP

Due to the intergovernmental nature of the CFSP, the two primary decision-making bodies are the Council of Ministers and the Council of the European Union.

Council of Ministers:
  • As and when issues arise, the Council of Ministers aims to adopt common
    positions and decides whether or not there should be joint action.

Council of the European Union:

  • The Council defines the general policJavier Solana, EU High Representative of the CFSP and Secretary General of the Council of the European Uniony guidelines for CFSP.


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