The European Council on Foreign Relations

European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2010

The European Foreign Policy Scorecard is an innovative project that will provide a systematic annual assessment of Europe’s performance in dealing with the rest of the world. The project starts with 2010 – “year zero” for the new foreign policy framework that was created by the Lisbon Treaty, including the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and the External Action Service. From this baseline, it will be possible in future years to follow Europe’s progress and setbacks across a range of key foreign policy issues. The scorecard assesses the performance of the 27 member states and the EU institutions on 80 policy areas arranged around six key themes: relations with China, Russia, and the United States, policy in the Wider Europe, and performance in crisis management and in multilateral issues.

Click here for commentary pieces about the Scorecard by ECFR experts

Click on one of the 6 chapters below to access the results:

China
C+	2010 was a sobering year for the EU as the reality of a new, more assertive China – and the EU’s limited leverage over it – set in. Europeans developed a new strategic approach to China but their coherence was undermined by bilateral tendencies of member states.

Russia
C+	In the past, the EU has tended to be divided between those that wanted to engage with Russia and those that wanted to contain it. But in 2010 the EU moved towards greater internal unity, largely as a result of the re-invigoration of cooperation between Germany and Poland.

United States
B-	The EU had significant successes when it identified its common interests and pursued them with the US in a single-minded way. However, member states sometimes still claim their own “special relationship” with the US and therefore sometimes lack unity.

Wider Europe
C+	As support for enlargement has declined, the EU’s leverage has decreased. Performance was good on the Western Balkans, mediocre on the eastern neighbourhood and poor on Turkey.

Crisis management
B-	The EU responded well to the earthquake in Haiti, but there was little enthusiasm for new crisis management missions in a year in which cash-strapped European governments announced big defence cuts.

Multilateral issues
B+	2010 was a year of defensive success for the EU in the multilateral system. After its failure at the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009, it suffered some further setbacks but mounted an impressive fight-back on climate change and at the UN.