ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the external dimension of the economic, financial and sovereign debt crisis and explores the negative spill over of the crisis on the EU's political role in the world. At the European Union (EU) level, the financial resources for CFSP could at least be maintained at previous levels, but national budgets were undergoing serious constraints. The literature on the EU's global role has increasingly focused on the question of whether the Union would be able to become an actor in international relations. CFSP and CSDP were intended for crises outside the EU; in recent years, however, crisis management has primarily happened inside the EU. In recent years, the management of the sovereign debt crisis has increasingly become the script for EU policies in general. The crisis has functioned as a game changer for the EU's strategic partnerships. Chaban and Holland concludes the crisis vaulted the EU into the headlines and increased its salience but that media coverage.
