The EU in the world

A voice in organisations

The EU participates in international organisations such as the United Nations (UN). When the EU member states participate in organisations, they present the opinions of the EU and not of individual countries. One can say that the member states speak with a single voice in these organisations.

Many different organisations

The EU cooperates with international organisations in order to contribute to joint, multilateral, solutions to common problems. Examples of organisations that the EU cooperates with are the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Council of Europe.

The EU's High Representative coordinates activities

When the EU member states participate in international organisations, they present the opinions of the EU and not of individual countries. In order to ensure that this functions as intended, coordination among the member states is required. It is the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas that is responsible for this coordination. She is also commonly referred to as the EU's Foreign Minister. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is chair of the Foreign Affairs Council, which gathers the member states’ foreign ministers. In addition, he is Vice President of the European Commission, the EU institution responsible for proposing new EU legislation.

• The Council of the European Union
• The European Commission

The EU has offices in over 140 places in the world

In order to facilitate the common foreign and security policy, the EU has over 140 offices in countries outside the EU. These offices are known as the EU's diplomatic representations and are tasked with undertaking negotiations and diplomatic discussions on behalf of the EU with countries outside the EU and various organisations. They also cooperate with the EU member states’ own embassies and consulates, the UN and other actors. It is the European External Action Service, a department within the European Commission, that leads the work of the diplomatic representations.

The EU's diplomatic representations on the European External Action Service website

Operations for peace and security

The EU member states can undertake joint peacekeeping missions, military operations and police assignments throughout the world at short notice. Before the EU can take such action, all member states must agree.

The EU countries stand for staff and equipment

Each EU member state pursues an independent foreign policy, but the member states also coordinate their activities through the EU's common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The common security and defence policy (CSDP) serves to give the EU access to civilian and military resources that can be used in operations in connection with conflicts. As the EU does not have its own defence or military resources, the member states must agree to contribute staff and equipment.

The EU's work with foreign and security policy is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. She is also commonly referred to as the EU's Foreign Minister.

Foreign and security policy on the EU website

EU member states help each other in crisis situations

If a crisis situation arises in an EU member state, such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster, the other member states take joint action and show their solidarity through the EU to support the country in question. This may, for example, involve coordinating relief operations or sending military staff or equipment to the affected country.

All member states must agree

A decision that the EU will intervene in a crisis or conflict outside the EU is taken by the EU heads of state and government in the European Council and by government ministers in the Council of the European Union. Unlike other policy areas, however, decisions relating to the common foreign and security policy must be taken by all the member states in agreement. Decision-making in this field is intergovernmental, which means that they must be taken unanimously and that each individual country has a veto.

Rapid reaction forces can be sent to conflict areas

The EU member states have agreed, among other things, on a system for joint military rapid reaction forces. This means that they are prepared to send out rapid reaction forces to conflict areas at short notice. It should be possible to mobilise a rapid reaction force in a conflict area shortly after the member states’ government ministers have taken a decision to this effect in the Council of the European Union. The EU's rapid reaction forces can undertake

• humanitarian operations
• rescue operations
• peacekeeping operations
• military crisis management, for example, with the purpose of enforcing peace
• non-proliferation operations
• support to countries outside the EU for the purpose of fighting terrorism.

The EU's rapid reaction forces on the European External Action Service website

Sanctions to strengthen peace and security

The EU can also decide to impose international sanctions within the framework of the common foreign and security policy. International sanctions are economic and political measures that restrict a country, a group or a leader responsible for actions that conflict with the EU's or UN's fundamental principles. This may, for example, include freezing the country's, group’s or leader's economic assets. It is the Council of the European Union, consisting of ministers from the governments of the EU member states, that takes decisions on the imposition of sanctions.

All sanctions that Sweden supports are decided by the EU or the UN. Sweden does not have any of its own, nationally-adopted sanctions.

International sanctions on the Government Offices website

Coordination for efficient development cooperation

One of the EU's goals is to reduce poverty and promote economic, sustainable and democratic development internationally. In order to achieve a greater impact, the EU countries coordinate their activities, such as development cooperation projects. The EU's development projects are financed by the EU member states.

Measures to promote economy, democracy and sustainable development

The EU member states support measures throughout the world to reduce poverty, contribute to economic and sustainable development or promote democracy and respect for human rights. In order to strengthen and make such development projects and support programmes as efficient as possible, the member states have agreed to coordinate their activities in countries outside the EU. These activities are known as the EU's development cooperation.

Development and cooperation policy on the EU website

Developing and neighbouring countries in focus

The EU's development cooperation takes the form of projects and programmes in, for example, developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Activities are also conducted in the EU's neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe and around the Mediterranean and in countries wishing to join the EU.

International cooperation and development on the European Commission website

The member states support the EU's development cooperation

The projects and programmes are financed through the EU's development assistance, which comes from two sources: the EU budget and the European Development Fund. It is Sweden and the other member states that finance the EU's development assistance. Partly through the EU contribution that each country pays, and partly through a contribution to the European Development Fund. The EU's development assistance supplements the EU countries’ national development assistance.

The EU's development assistance on the European Commission website

Help in crisis and disaster situations

The EU countries have agreed to cooperate in providing emergency relief, for example, in connection with natural or man-made disasters. 

Help is conveyed through organisations

The EU member states’ joint disaster relief measures are coordinated by ECHO, which is the European Commission's Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection. The EU's disaster aid is then delivered in practice by over 200 partner organisations and bodies which operate on the ground, for example, NGOs, the Red Cross and UN bodies.

Humanitarian aid and civil protection policy on the EU website
ECHO on the European Commission website

Emergency preparedness

The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels monitors ongoing and potential crises throughout the world around the clock. The ERCC is a department of the European Commission. In the event of an emergency, the affected country's emergency preparedness agency can turn to the ERCC which, in turn, contacts other countries to see what resources in the form of equipment and relief articles are available. The contact agency for the ERCC in Sweden is the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).

• The ERCC on the European Commission website
• The EU's and MSB's international actions on the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency website

The EU member states cooperate when it comes to trade with countries outside the EU. In such matters, the member states have transferred their decision-making powers to the EU. Individual EU countries cannot enter into their own free trade agreements with countries outside the EU.

Common rules and customs tariffs

The EU's common trade policy for countries outside the EU is, among other things, about creating uniform rules and customs levels for imports of goods from the rest of the world. The EU has, for example, common customs tariffs for non-EU countries. The same customs tariff should be paid on a product that is imported from a country outside the EU, regardless of which country imports the product. However, tariffs vary depending on the product.

The EU also draws up free trade agreements with individual or groups of countries outside the EU, and with trade organisations.

Trade policy on the EU website

The EU has exclusive competence

Trade with countries outside the EU is an area in which the EU has exclusive competence. This means that in trade issues, the EU member states have transferred their decision-making powers to the EU's two legislative institutions: the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. Sweden and the other EU countries cannot, therefore, decide to enter into trade agreements with other countries or organisations themselves.

The EU’s powers depend on the issue at hand

Free trade agreements to facilitate trade

The EU enters into free trade agreements with countries outside the EU in order to facilitate trade. A free trade agreement means that customs tariffs on goods are abolished and that trade barriers, for example, to services, investments and public procurements, are reduced.

Several EU institutions are involved

The European Commission is the EU institution responsible for negotiating free trade agreements. The Commission is given the task of initiating negotiations by the Council of the European Union, which is the EU institution that consists of government ministers from the member states. When the negotiations are completed, the agreement must be approved by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, which comprises members elected by the member states’ citizens. Some free trade agreements also need to be approved by the member states’ national parliaments.

The EU institutions

Agreement with the UK the most comprehensive

The EU has free trade agreements with many countries, and is negotiating with many others. The most recent and most comprehensive of these is the free trade agreement with the UK, which was provisionally applied on 1 January 2021, and came into force on 1 May 2021. The agreement between the EU and the UK includes trade in products and services, digital trade, intellectual property rights, public procurement, air and road traffic, energy, fisheries, coordination of social security schemes, crime prevention and judicial cooperation, thematic cooperation and participation in EU programmes.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK on the European Commission website

EEA and CETA other examples of free trade agreements

Another example of an existing free trade agreement is the European Economic Area (EEA) which applies to the EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The agreement gives companies in these countries access to the European single market and its free movement of goods, services, people and capital.

In 2017, the free trade agreement CETA (Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement) was reached between the EU and Canada. CETA means that it will be easier for companies from Sweden and the other EU member states to sell products and services in Canada. The agreement also gives companies in Canada access to the European single market.

The list of countries with which the EU has free trade agreements is long. Information about all these agreements is available on the National Board of Trade website.

The EU's free trade agreements on the National Board of Trade website