Common Foreign and Security Policy after Brexit: Intergovernamentalism and Atlanticism After All – The Portuguese Case

In the light of the Portuguese parliamentary debate about the creation of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) by the European Council, this paper analyses the evolution of the national parties’ position about it, framing the ideas on the future of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of EU, foreseeing that despite Brexit, and consequently the depart of a strong atlanticist and intergovernmental guardian in European bargains, divergences and geopolitical differences in Europe maintain and will be an obstacle to evolve for a European supranational policy. Following academic achievements and some commentaries of political analysts, Brexit was regarded as having as a positive consequence to allow the facilitation of European integration. One of the areas defined as such was CFSP. Besides UK, Portugal has also traditionally maintained an atlanticist and intergovernmental position on CFSP. But considering the change of the international context in the late years (where USA not only divested in the military presence it had in Portuguese soil, but also brought international uncertainty with the Trump presidency, along with the emergence of other global powers), one might think the Portuguese parties could start changing priorities for external defense alliances. However, the debate about PESCO does not show it and predicts a difficult future to achieve a truly integrated CFSP.