L’Entente Européene: France and Ireland in the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy

Abstract

Ever since the foundation of the very first European Community in 1952, Europe has struggled to make its voice heard internationally. Since Ireland joined the European Community in 1973, there has, at times, been substantial policy difference between France and Ireland on the development of European cooperation in the realm of foreign, security and defence policy. The suggestion of this paper is that these policy differences are perhaps narrower than they might at first appear and that there is today substantial territory on which these two European partners might pursue cooperation in this sometimes challenging arena.

Keywords: Ireland, France, foreign policy, defence, EU, CFSP, CSDP