EU:A new think tank aimed at creating a more vigorous common EU foreign policy and boosting Europe's global influence was launched yesterday.
The European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR), which is modelled on the US Council on Foreign Relations, will mix policy and advocacy in pursuit of its goal to develop a more integrated EU foreign policy.
In a joint declaration, the 50 founders of the ECFR called on the EU to "punch its weight in the world", advocating a series of policies to increase European influence. "We, the undersigned, call on the governments of the European Union to develop a more coherent and vigorous foreign policy, informed by our shared values, dedicated to the pursuit of our common European interests and sustained by European power," said the groups' statement of principles.
Among their proposals are closer EU co-operation at the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, as well as a firm commitment to future membership for Turkey and the western Balkans.
The ECFR's board will be co-chaired by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has mediated in the Balkans, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, and Mabel van Oranje, a human rights activist at the Open Society Institute.
Among the first policy areas the council will tackle is the EU's relationship with Russia, seeking to force the 27 EU states to pool efforts to influence Moscow instead of conducting bilateral ties in a way that undermines common EU interests.
In a statement on the group's website, Mark Leonard, executive director of the ECFR, said the think tank was based on a belief that in a world order defined by great powers and even larger problems, European countries could either band together and develop common responses, or risk losing influence over their futures.