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AbstractThis article examines the EU's participation in multilateral institutions on the example of the UN Arms Trade Treaty. The central question of the study is to what extent and under what conditions the EU can be seen as an effective actor in multilateral security negotiations. It is argued that overall the EU was an effective player during the multilateral negotiations on the ATT, but the degree of its effectiveness varies along different dimensions. The EU was rather successful in the achievement of its goals and in maintaining external cohesion, but it scored relatively low in its efforts to commit the key stakeholders to sign up to the ATT. The EU's internal export control policy, together with the high level of institutional co‐ordination and Member States' interest convergence, facilitated the EU's effectiveness in the ATT negotiations, whereas the international context proved to be the major constraining factor.

While today we associate Ukraine with conflict and occupation, the period preceding the Maidan protests saw the European Union use a peaceful but peculiar diplomatic instrument to pressure the country's leaders: shuttle diplomacy by an informal group called the Cox-Kwasniewski mission. This mission was launched not by the European External Action Service, or the European Commission, but rather the European Parliament (EP). Composed of a former EP President and a former Polish President, it visited Ukraine 27 times, eased the conditions and even obtained the release of political prisoners, and pushed the Ukrainian government to adopt a series of legal reforms. This article argues that this instance of the European Parliament (EP) participating in EU foreign policy nevertheless cannot be called parliamentary diplomacy. In fact, its limited successes stemmed from the deliberately unparliamentary characteristics of the mission. It was not a complement to a higher-level, executive-to-executive diplomatic initiative. It lacked transparency and accountability. And it did not rely on parliamentary procedures – or even parliamentarians at all. Rather, it is an example of the EP engaging in non-parliamentary diplomacy – an aspect of its influence and participation in EU foreign policy that is likely to increase in the near future.

Die Arktis-Region zieht aufgrund des Klimawandels immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Dessen Auswirkungen zeigen sich hier stärker als irgendwo sonst in der Welt. Gleichzeitig wirken sich diese Veränderungen auf andere Weltregionen aus, einerseits durch den steigenden Meeresspiegel und andererseits durch den Einfluss auf die Klimaverhältnisse in angrenzenden Gebieten. (KAS-Auslandsinformationen / SWP)

"Die Arktis-Region zieht aufgrund des Klimawandels immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Dessen Auswirkungen zeigen sich hier stärker als irgendwo sonst in der Welt. Gleichzeitig wirken sich diese Veränderungen auf andere Weltregionen aus, einerseits durch den steigenden Meeresspiegel und andererseits durch den Einfluss auf die Klimaverhältnisse in angrenzenden Gebieten." (Autorenreferat)