New strategy for new times – the necessity of redefining the EU foreign policy in its neighbourhood

Abstract

Transformations of the international environment we are facing nowadays,
force the EU to verify its policy on the international arena. The Russian-
Ukrainian conflict and a huge wave of immigrants from the war-affected
areas of the Middle East (especially Syria) require the development of a new
strategic approach by the Union. The previous EU assumptions formulated in
the European Security Strategy (ESS) and in the detailed strategies (regional,
topic-based and those relating to defence) seem to be inadequate to deal
with the current situation not only in the direct neighbourhood of the EU
but also outside it. The aim of the article is to verify the assumption that the
European Union needs a profound change of the model of its foreign policy.
The basis of this shall be a newly defined global strategy of foreign policy of
the EU, w hich would at the same time address contemporary challenges and
dangers. In order to verify this thesis, the introductory analysis of the previous
EU strategies in the international relations (the instruments and policy
in external relations) shall be made; moreover, the conditions and bases for
the formulation of a new strategic model need to be discussed. And finally,
the EU foreign policy in chosen framework areas should be revised as well as
recommendations for the future EU foreign policy should be made.