On 18th and 19th October 2012, around 55 experts from academia as well as practitioners and policy makers met at Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Berlin to discuss the European Union’s development as a foreign policy actor since the coming into effect of the Lisbon Treaty. The conference was organized by the Institut für Europäische Politik Berlin (IEP) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, with the support of the Erasmus Academic Network LISBOAN and the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation. During the two-day workshop the experts from all over Europe as well as from overseas debated developments in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and assessed current challenges critically. The four panel discussions and two keynote speeches focused on the following aspects:

• The Presence or Absence of the EU in World Affairs;
• Achievements and Shortcomings of the new CFSP system in operation;
• External dimensions of CFSP – Strategic interests, partners and rivals of the EU;
• Future prospects of CFSP – National preferences and leadership among the Member States.

The workshop programme, a list of participants and a full report are available for download on the right hand side.

Contact:  Dr. Elfriede Regelsberger, Deputy Director, Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP) Berlin.