To browse the last 10 years of EU foreign policy

Today, there are few up-to-date books on EU foreign policy in French. Here is one, which particularly covers the 10-year term of Javier Solana, the first High Representative of the EU for foreign policy. An endearing character, for those who have been around him a little, who has succeeded in small steps, in setting up from scratch, or almost, a team, a military staff, then a civilian staff, and pose some acts of foreign policy, in particular in the Middle East, in Iran or in Iraq, and in Africa. The successes have not always been very visible. The failures were often commented on. This book has the advantage of an educational presentation. He starts from the genesis - the institution of the function, the choice of Solana, the setting up of structures... - to then detail his role: in crisis management operations (Concordia in Macedonia and Artémis in Congo, at the beginning, etc.), in the formulation of a "doctrinal basis", the approval of a European security strategy (which seems banal when you read it today but is a real tour de force when you sees the time of its approval, in 2003, after the "Iraqi schism" between the Europeans), and finally its action in the field of traditional diplomacy (Middle East or Iran in particular).

The author, Estelle Poidevin, a former journalist, now works at the office of the European Commission in Paris (in the political department). And this book comes from a master's thesis "Practices and International Research" at Sciences Po Paris. NB: if all the memories had this outfit and this richness, the researchers had better look for a job elsewhere -:)

• "The European Union and foreign policy - The high representative for the common foreign and security policy: real driving force or leadership by proxy (1999-2009)?", Estelle Poidevin, Editions L'Harmattan, 210 pages, 20 euros