Think tank director: lack of strategic unity holds the EU back from great-power status
Rosa Balfour, director of the think tank Carnegie Europe, says the European Union is kept from becoming a true great power by a lack of strategic convergence. In her view, any ambition to make the EU a superpower first requires uniting its own people.
The European Union (EU), the political and economic union of 27 member states, has still not become a true great power on the international stage. According to Rosa Balfour, director of the think tank Carnegie Europe, one of the most persistent obstacles is a lack of strategic convergence, meaning that member states struggle to align on a shared outlook and goals in foreign policy.
Balfour considers unity a precondition for any larger ambition. If the EU wants to become a superpower, she argues, it must first bring its own people together, so that there is a common understanding within the bloc of what role Europe wants to play in the world.
The source report contains only this central conclusion. It gives no further detail on the occasion or the specific issues on which Balfour spoke.
