Foreign Relations Federalism in the European Union: Europe’s pluralist predicament

This paper comparatively examines the constitutional balance between the EU and its Member States, and the federal and state governments in the US in the context of foreign relations. The picture that emerges is one in which hierarchy (US) is contrasted with pluralism (EU). This contrast is an invitation for students of EU foreign relations law to revisit certain assumptions, in particular those underlying the ‘constitutionalist’ paradigm through which EU foreign relations law has been studied in recent decades, in particular in its pluralist incarnation. Against the backdrop of the US experience, the paper explains how the EU today is caught in a pluralist predicament: between a supranational desire to consolidate, and increased Member State resistance against doing so. To escape from this deadlock, increased mutual trust is required. The path towards such increased trust is not only legal, but also political; it requires sustained political action at both EU and Member State level.status: submitte