The EU Performance in the UN Forum on Forests: An Analysis of the EU at UNFF11

The chapter evaluates the European Union’s (EU’s) performance in the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) through a case study of the EU at the 11th session of the UNFF (2015). The EU managed to develop a common position in a consensual way (output performance), as a result of which it negotiated as a unitary actor (outcome performance). The EU’s power of the purse as well as its expertise, knowledge and experience on forest issues increased its bargaining power, and the EU achieved most of its predefined objectives (impact performance). This relatively high level of goal achievement is then explained by analysing the internal preference distribution in the EU, the way the EU overcomes the lack of forest competence and its positioning in the international negotiation context