The Lisbon treaty and transatlantic dialogue : significance and inefficiencies

Enhanced institutional structures do not always entail increased efficiency in diplomatic interlocution. Both exogenous and endogenous factors may hinder smooth interaction between international actors, notwithstanding reinforced diplomatic frameworks. An analysis of waning political dialogue, in the past decade, between the United States (henceforth, US) and the European Union (EU) supports this consideration. In spite of the EU having in place the most extensive array of foreign policy instruments in its history, a decline in transatlantic political relations has not been averted. What is more, the decline has accelerated since the creation of such instruments by the Lisbon Treaty. Thirteen years after the entry into force of the treaty and the implementation of its foreign policy institutions, unprecedented in European integration, an assessment of their effectiveness within transatlantic dialogue is timely and necessary. What has the Lisbon Treaty meant for EU-US political dialogue? Why has the Lisbon Treaty been ineffective for strengthening EU-US political relations, and avoiding ever-increasing transatlantic rifts throughout the different crises of the past decade -recently, COVID-19? With the aim of addressing the aforementioned questions, this PhD Thesis will 1) substantiate the significance of the Lisbon Treaty in transatlantic dialogue, 2) trace a relation between the decline in EU-US top-level dialogue and the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty foreign policy institutions, and 3) analyze factors which have inhibited the effectiveness of the EU diplomatic framework in preventing such decline, the consequences of which are pivotal for the security dimension of the transatlantic relationship: it is ultimately in this trying context that NATO and the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) will operate in the coming years and decades.