"The EU should focus on acting as a civilian power and not a military power" ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ do you agree? The increasingly turbulent political climate of late has placed increasing pressure upon the European Union to consider furthering itself as a military power. There is no question that the EU is already a major actor on the world stage in terms of trade; the EU conducts economic relations with virtually every country on earth Smith 2003, cited in Cini 2004, but there has been mounting speculation over its strength as a major political actor in light of the recent escalating...
be more willing to act unilaterally, and the smaller states will be more likely to act collectively.

The member states own foreign policy objectives will always be first on the agenda. The member states will guard against their autonomy being damaged, and this will always hinder a supra-national foreign policy from ever being realised to its full potential. Allen 1998 explains that: If foreign policy expresses the identity and interests of a particular community, then by definition, the EU cannot formulate foreign policy because at best, the member states are linked by a weak sense of shared identity.