Introduction

The European Union (EU) has over the past decade been confronted with considerable internal and external challenges. The so-called migrant crisis of 2015, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU (Brexit), the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 as well as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 are just some of the significant challenges that have placed demands on the EU to reshape its foreign and security policy. At the same time, the EU is also under pressure from within. Increasing contestation between member states can be identified in relation to issues such as human rights, sexual health, and reproductive rights, external aspects of migration and relations with major powers such as Russia, the US, and China (Balfour et al, 2016; Koenig, 2020; Müller et al, 2021; Barbé and Badell, 2023).

However, while EU foreign policy has been labelled as increasingly fragmented and politicized (Barbé and Morillas, 2019; Costa, 2019; Crombois, 2019; Hegemann and Schneckener, 2019; Johansson-Nogués et al, 2020; Juncos and Pomorska, 2021; Müller et al, 2021), there is a clear discrepancy between these challenges and what the EU actually does in practice. Within the sphere of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the EU continues to produce strategy documents and council conclusions, and implement sanctions against individuals and companies. In other words, despite these challenges, the EU continues to produce a common foreign policy. How is this possible?