The EU as a global negotiator? The advancement of the EU’s role in multilateral negotiations at the UN General Assembly
| Author | Anke Schwarzkopf |
| DOI | 10.1177/00471178211045623 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178211045623
International Relations
2021, Vol. 35(4) 574 –592
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00471178211045623
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The EU as a global negotiator?
The advancement of the
EU’s role in multilateral
negotiations at the UN
General Assembly
Anke Schwarzkopf
University of Oslo
Abstract
This paper aims to account for the EU’s role in multilateral negotiations at the United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA) by looking at the negotiations on the enhanced observer status.
During the negotiation process, the EU experienced significant opposition and had to accept
an intermediate setback in form of a postponement of the vote. Despite this, the EU’s
enhanced observer status was adopted by the UNGA in May 2011 as resolution 65/276. This
research contributes to the understanding of the EU as an actor in multilateral negotiations
and the interaction between state and non-state actors. I argue that the EU is in the process
of establishing itself as an active and recognized actor at the UN and determining its role as a
highly integrated regional organization and non-state entity in the state-centric environment of
the UNGA. I analyse the negotiation process and the final agreement through the lenses of a
bargaining approach and as an alternative, mutual recognition as global justice.
Keywords
EU external representation, global justice, multilateral negotiations, regional organizations, UN
General Assembly
Introduction
Over the years, the EU has become a frequent participant in multilateral negotiations and
has collectively represented the goals of the Union and its Member States (MS). The
Corresponding author:
Anke Schwarzkopf, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1143 – Blindern,
Oslo 0318, Norway.
Email: anke.schwarzkopf@arena.uio.no
1045623IRE0010.1177/00471178211045623International RelationsSchwarzkopf
research-article2021
Article
Schwarzkopf 575
negotiations towards the enhanced observer status followed the adoption of the Lisbon
Treaty (ToL) and aimed to alter the Union’s participation rights at the UN General
Assembly (UNGA). The ToL1 regulated that the EU should be represented by the High
Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP)
instead of the rotating Council Presidency.2 An informal practice at the UNGA allows
major groups of UN MS to be represented by a single state representative and to speak at
the very beginning of plenary debates.3 As long as the EU was represented by the Council
Presidency, the EU could benefit from this practice and speak at the beginning of UNGA
session among the major groups. As the HR/VP is not a state representative, but an intui-
tional representative, the EU would have spoken at the end of UNGA session among the
non-state observer entities. Instead of achieving a more effective representation and
more visibility at the UNGA, the EU feared losing the possibility to be able to take part
in the UNGA on the same terms as before and therefore initiated the negotiations on the
enhanced observer status.4
As a case of structural reform at the UNGA, the EU’s request for enhanced participa-
tion rights is a particularly relevant and interesting case of the EU’s foreign policy and
role in multilateral negotiations. It illustrates the EU’s capacity to negotiate for its own
sake, navigate the complexities of multilateral negotiations and interact in the state-cen-
tric system of the UN. The negotiation process towards the enhanced status was the logi-
cal consequence for the EU to implement the regulations of the ToL and to preserve the
status quo of the EU’s representation at the UNGA. The EU aimed towards an enhanced
observer status, which consists of an institutional representative but holds the same rights
as a major group at the UNGA. While the envisioned status did not have any limiting
effect on the rights of the UN MS, it touched upon the sensitive issues of the UNGA’s
structure and created some uncertainty concerning the EU’s future position in the UNGA.
The literature looking at the EU’s role in multilateral negotiations has frequently con-
centrated on the EU’s ‘presence’5 that impacts international relations and the EU’s ability
to act in multilateral cooperation. As the EU is not a state, even though it shares some
characteristics with states, it has been assumed that the EU is a different actor that pur-
sues a different foreign policy, which is not only guided by self-interest but also by the
right thing to do.6 A common claim in this regard has been that the EU needs to speak
with one voice and needs to be a unified actor, in order to be effective and perform well
on the international stage. Effectiveness in this regard has frequently been assumed to be
achieved by the fulfilment of goals and has been used to assess the EU’s foreign policy
objectives and the outcomes of international negotiations.7 Trade negotiations have not
only been the area of multilateral negotiations that have received most scholarly atten-
tion but represent also a field, in which the EU‘s foreign policy has been successful and
the EU is seen as a powerful actor.8 In the case of the EU’s enhanced observer status,
researchers highlight the EU’s ability to negotiate a certain outcome in international set-
tings, but also its lacking flexibility and experience to steer the negotiation process
towards an envisioned result.9 This research goes beyond the existing literature by con-
centrating on the EU’s behaviour in the negotiation process and the interactions with
state-actors. I thereby provide a more nuanced understanding of the interactions in nego-
tiation processes and the negotiation dynamics at the UN. This research highlights the
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