All in all, the EU as a collective actor actively promotes its interests in a very wide variety of policy areas and through differing formal positions in international organisations. These actions mostly bolster its soft power - exporting norms, standards, using technical assistance and expertise to influence international legislation and create a more beneficial international environment, - rather than directly influence international security decisions. But having the obligation to make decisions on behalf of its member states is not always beneficial – foreign policy positions require consensus, which (due to diverging EU member state interests) often follows lengthy and difficult discussions and restricts EU’s flexibility in official negotiations. Although the real efficiency of its generous funding and programmes is also contested, overcoming the internal difficulties which hinder the EU’s collective capacity would significantly help the EU to use its current foreign policy strengths – influencing trade and humanitarian norms and standards that would improve both EU’s competitiveness and the global political stability.
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