Reformas en casa, problemas en el vecindariola acción exterior de la unión europea en 2014

Zusammenfassung

In institutional terms, the EU�s external action was marked by elections to the European Parliament in May 2014, which led to the nomination of a new European Commission and High Representative, the Italian Federica Mogherini. Developments such as an efficient European External Action Service and civilian and military operations in the EU�s neighborhood, particularly in Africa, continued in 2014. The economic crisis sets limits to the Europeans� ability to act internationally, but some missions have been successful, for instance Atalanta, the naval force in the Indic Ocean. The single most important event for the EU�s external action in 2014 was the Ukraine-Russia crisis. The EU was mainly focused on problems towards the East, which meant less attention to serious conflicts in the Mediterranean and the Arab world. In the Ukrainian crisis, the EU condemned Crimea�s annexation to Russia and separatist movements in the East, leading to economic sanctions vis-à-vis Russia. Tensions between the EU and the United States, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, might be long-lasting, since Ukraine�s society is divided and keeping Ukraine�s territorial integrity seems to be very difficult.