The Role Of European External Action Service Towards EU's Public Diplomacy

This discussion paper will focus on the role of the European External Action Service(EEAS)and public diplomacy.The rationale for this particular focus lies in the confluence of the institutional changes within the EU following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009,which has placed the EEAS as a core facilitator at the heart of the EU?s external relations.The latent potential in the Service to instil more coherence,effectiveness and visibility in the external actions of the EU may well have positive side effects for public diplomacy.The paper acknowledges though that there are also profound challenges to the external aspects of EU public diplomacy.In order to understand the potential impact of the EEAS on EU public diplomacy it is therefore necessary to briefly describe the pre-Lisbon practices.The paper is divided into six sections.The first section explains the purpose and significance of the study,summarizes related literatures,and presents the research goals and research methods of the study.The main body of this paper is formed by sections from the second to the fifth,which mainly include four chapters.For those unfamiliar with the history of public diplomacy and EU external relations,Chapter 1 will present a brief overview of the pre-Lisbon practice of public diplomacy,its challenges and shortcomings.Chapter 2 and 3 will consider the post-Lisbon context and the core role of the EEAS with regard to public diplomacy.The following Chapter 4 will focus on the analysis on the active role of EEAS as well as the potential influence of the dual challenges and the future of EU public diplomacy.As the last section of this paper,it makes a brief but comprehensive conclusion.