Coordination of external policies: Feudal fiefdoms to coordinate: Organisational and procedural frameworks of consistency within the European commission

As a formal requirement across policies, coordination is a concern in the Commission regular decision-making. Although it might be met with reluctance on the part of services, it is enshrined in the organization of the Commission. The renewed commitment of the Lisbon Treaty to the coherence of EU’s external action has added an inter-institutional dimension to the challenge, in turn leading the Commission to adapt. How and to what extent are external policies coordinated within the Commission? This paper builds on a two-level approach-using the service and political levels-to analyse the responsibilities, resources and actual contributions of the different actors towards coordination. It argues that, despite the respective principles, the instruments available and the actors specifically engaged in coordination-related activities, coordinating external policies remains a challenge.