Features of EU's External Representation-Making by European External Action Service in the Context of the EU's Legitimacy Crisis

The paper reveals the features of EU's external representation-making by European External Action Service in the context of EU's internal legitimacy crisis and EU’s transition to new foreign policy strategic guidelines in accordance with ‘A Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy’ published in 2016. Critical discourse analysis of EU delegations’ statements revealed that despite the declared transition of the EU to ‘resilience’ and ‘principled pragmatism’ model in foreign policy activities, the theorization of EU's external representation-making by European External Action Service is much closer to the ‘Normative Power Europe’ concept, as the EU delegations performing diplomatic function mainly promote European values and define what is ‘normal’. The study also evaluated the contribution of the EEAS to the European foreign policy towards Russia and defined (by scenario logic) the relationship prospects between the EEAS and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in the short term.