Why the EU is not promoting effective multilateralism

Although the EU adopted effective multilateralism in 2003 as a core principle of its European Security Strategy, it has accomplished little in this field, mainly because of a fundamental inconsistency in its approach.

The Strategy obfuscated the fact that promoting effective multilateralism requires active involvement and commitment on the part of the whole government, not just of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence. As long as other Ministries are not directly in-volved, the promotion of effective multilateralism will remain largely a dead letter, according to Barend ter Haar and Louise van Schaik in this Clingendael Policy Brief.