EU citizens' support for a common foreign and security policy

The article applies a citizens' perspective on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which was introduced in the Treaty of the European Union. The CFSP has subsequently been reinforced through the introduction of more coherent instruments and more efficient decision-making. In 1999, the EU assumed a more explicitly military dimension into its sphere of activities, by initiating the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Drawing on the Eurobarometer and the Candidate Countries Eurobarometer, the article demonstrates the readiness of EU citizens to accept the notion of the EU as a foreign policy actor. The cross-national variation in the data suggests that support for the CFSP and the ESDP is closely related to general support for the EU as such. It would seem that, to most citizens, foreign policy remains a rather abstract or remote policy field. A significant part of the public support for the CFSP and the ESDP can thus be labelled as uninformed or diffuse support.