EN
This article analyses the innovations introduced by the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The article first examines the structure of the European Union's external relations after the Treaty of Lisbon. Secondly it analyses two of the most important innovations, namely, the new position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European External Action Service. Thirdly, it outlines the future difficulties and challenges of the two innovations. The article demonstrates that these institutions' main aim is to ensure the consistency of EU's external action. In conclusion it is pointed out that these innovations do not provide all the necessary remedies for the shortcomings of the EU's external relations, but do provide the necessary basis upon which progress and change in the development of more consistent external relations can be realised, in particular by establishing the cornerstone of a new European-level of diplomacy.