Decision-Making Process in the EU Foreign Policy: The Role of Informal Subprocess

The European Union is an integrated association with its own foreign policy, whose nature is as unique as the association itself. This article focuses on the study of the role of the informal factor in the process of the EU foreign policy decision-making. The article proposes the author’s approach, which implies the conceptualization of the EU foreign policy using the terms formal and informal subprocesses within the decision-making process. The applicability of this approach is illustrated through studying the role of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) and the NGO Southeast Europe Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) in the EU foreign policy decision-making. The advantages of the proposed approach, such as greater flexibility, criteria-based inclusiveness, and systematization, in general, are proposed to further studies of the EU foreign policy.