Abstract (eng)
Over the past decade, EU Foreign Policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been marked by internal divisions, a lack of coordination, and indecisiveness. This assessment extends to the EU’s reaction to the Israel-Hamas War since October 7, 2023. While German Foreign Policy since the 2000s had incorporated common positions such as the two-state solution and supported EU integration, it has often acted independently, favouring minilateral and bilateral initiatives over EU fora and enabling Israeli unilateralism. Despite growing frustration with the Israeli government since the 2010s, Germany’s commitment to a ‘special’ relationship with Israel has remained unwavering. This has influenced Germany’s aversion to imposing conditions or offering open criticism, including within the EU context. Given the highly intergovernmental nature of EU Foreign Policy, the role of supranational elements in connection with member-state-partaking in EU deliberations has been undervalued, particularly concerning the conflict and German Foreign Policy.
In response, the thesis investigates how German Foreign Policy has indeed adapted and projected its positions to the EU-level, employing the concept of Europeanization and discourse analysis. By examining the evolution of framing of problems, solutions, and motivations articulated by high-level German and EU actors, it investigates interdiscursive connections and pressures that permit and constrain foreign policymaking and potentially precede formal consensus. The crisis of EU Foreign Policy triggered by the Israel-Hamas War has led to the re-articulation and competition of new frames, creating unique opportunities for foreign policy change. By capturing and comparing frames in a variety of high-level texts including speeches, interviews, and press releases from early 2023 to March 2024, the thesis demonstrates how German and EU actors have initially been discursively disconnected, engaged in competition and articulation in October, and gradually aligned by March. Although German discursive projection has been limited and the EU’s role in German discourse kept being disregarded, German actors have, nevertheless, progressively adopted frames initially developed at the EU level, in turn shaping German Foreign Policy. Thus, the thesis contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the impact of EU membership on national foreign policy and vice versa.