On Iran, Europeans decide to work in concert.

• Author: Kupchan, Charles A.
• Position: European Diplomacy

The European Union continues to take the lead in ongoing diplomatic efforts to shut down Iran's nuclear program. Although a ubiquitous and effective diplomatic arbiter throughout its own neighborhood, the EU's leading role in negotiations with Iran is unusual; in the Middle East and beyond, Europe usually follows America's lead. Moreover, the EU-3 (Britain, France, and Germany), with the help of Europe's foreign policy czar, Javier Solana, have maintained a united front on this challenge. Consistently since 2003, the EU-3 have managed to work ever more closely together, even though they were initially cold shouldered by Washington and then had to play a diplomatic chess game during difficult negotiations with Tehran, matching Iranian overtures and concessions and sudden assertiveness with their own ability to wield carrots and sticks. Throughout, the EU-3 have maintained uncharacteristic unity and steadiness in grappling with this major international confrontation.

Why has Europe been able to pull together this sustained and cohesive approach? The Iraq war, in early 2003, had made a hash of Europe's ambitions for a common foreign policy, opening an intra-European divide at a moment when re-nationalization of political life was already discernible across Europe. So the stage hardly seemed set for an effective assertion of the EU's diplomatic muscle in the Middle East. How, then, to explain the EU-3's determination and staying power in confronting a belligerent and shrewd leadership in Tehran?

Two important factors shaped the diplomatic playing field. First, Washington's refusal to negotiate with Tehran both made it necessary for the EU-3 to take the lead on Iran and also enabled them to do so. Had the United States not invaded Iraq and instead focused its attention on containment of Iran, European diplomats would likely have taken a back seat to their U.S counterparts. But with Washington preoccupied with the debacle in Iraq and still refusing to negotiate with its chief adversaries in the region, the EU had a window of opportunity to take the leading role in dealing with Iran.

Second, the fact that the EU-3, not the broader union, comprises Europe's negotiating team has given EU diplomacy particular coherence and responsiveness in this case. A union whose membership is approaching thirty could never provide collective leadership on issues such as Iran--especially in the absence of the institutional reforms needed to streamline...