The EU’s Diplomacy After The Lisbon Treaty: A Case Of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize

  • Abstract:
    The “Power Audit of EU-China Relations”, a report by John Fox and François Godement published in 2009, presented a new approach in analyzing the EU Member States’ positions towards China and led to detailed recommendations for the whole EU’s policy in this respect. At that point, the Lisbon Treaty, then coming to the ratification, was expected to be the future agent of such changes in the EU’s policy. Its later ratification raised the expectations and hopes for the EU’s effective foreign policy and among others also for its relations with China. Almost one year after the ratification, in October 2010, the EU relations with China have faced a particular test when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. This paper analyses the reactions of the EU itself through its main institutions and some of its Member States. Their reactions, as they were reported in the European media, are evaluated by applying Fox and Godement’s typology. The paper also discusses to what extent 2010 Nobel Peace Prize might be perceived as a tool of a diplomatic puzzle between the EU and China. By means of such analysis the author tries to assess a significance of changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in foreign policy field regarding the challenges facing the EU relations with its international partners such as China.