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Paris High-stakes talks on Irans nuclear program ended todaywithout a deal. But for the European Union, the agreement to extend talks and set new deadline may mark a turning point for its young foreign policy arm an entity that many had dismissed as ineffective.

Critics have considered the European External Action Service (EAS), launched in 2011, to be just another layer of EU bureaucracy. Individual member states really run the foreign policy show, they argue, as has been apparent with the Ukraine crisis.

But on Iran, the EU has spoken with one voice.And, its supporters argue, it has the opportunity to prove its worth by accomplishing things that individual countries could not.

"Europe should really use [the extension in negotiations] to make a worthwhile case, that the EAS has an added value that national foreign services cannot do," says Cornelius Adebahr, a European foreign policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "[The Iran case] can set a prime example of what the EU could be doing."

Europe has played a leading role in Iran negotiations since 2003. Faced with the disclosure at the time of a secret Iranian nuclear program, and fears that the US could strike Tehran after having invaded Iraq, Europe rushed to find a diplomatic solution. Britain,France, and Germany the "EU3" launched an initiative to defusepossibilityof another war in the Middle East.

But it was an EU, not just individual, effort from the start, led by Javier Solana, then the secretary general of the Council of the European Union. By2011, the EAS gave an official diplomatic corps to the EU, with Catherine Ashton as its first high representative and Europe's face on Iran.

The "EU3" allowed the EU to drive negotiations. That has not been the case in dealings with Russia, where business interests and oil dependency have trumped EU cohesion on sanctions.

"Because Russia is such a divisive issue, it was easier to come to a sense of unity on Iran than it has been on Russia," says Mr. Abebahr, a German who consults for several German businesses and institutions.

EU sanctions on Iran have roiled some ties in Europe, too, with several countries accused ofwaveringbecause of business interests. And Francesparkeda riftlast year on the other side of the spectrum, when Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was called out for pushing harder on Iran than the rest of the group though it endeared him briefly toAmerican hawkswho were wary of a soft deal for Iran.

"What is sure is France's position has changed, from playing an 'anti' role to consensus," says Thierry Coville, an Iran expert at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. "They see, as does everyone, that there is an opportunity [for a solution]. They do not want to spoil the situation."

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Iran nuclear talks: EU diplomacy finds a stronger voice (+video)