ABSTRACT

Chapter 2 lays out the historical trajectories of EU diplomatic capacity at the level of both the European Commission and the Council of the EU. The division of external relations (development, trade and other policy areas) in the Commission as opposed to more traditional political foreign policy in the Council are discussed as the historically entrenched arrangement for EU foreign policy and external relations. The chapter also highlights the emerging ideas of a joint external relations and foreign policy structure from several sources in the period prior to the EEAS’s inception.