The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) is chaired and represented by the High Representative, who embodies a unified, common voice for otherwise disparate EU member states. The High Representative is assisted by the European External Action Service (EEAS), a structurally and financially independent arm which ensures consistency across the different activities the EU performs abroad through its numerous arms with external relations portfolios. The purpose of a common foreign policy is to enhance each member state’s leverage in the international community by joining efforts to preserve peace and strengthen international security, promote international cooperation, and develop and consolidate the EU’s normative aims of democracy, rule of law and human rights.
