81 posts
The Role of the High Representative and the EU's CFSP
Dan Smith has written a very interesting and well thought-out post on the state of the External Action Service (EAS) and its potential as well as what aims it should have. The Institute of International and European Affairs had a guest lecture on the...
The EAS: what it takes to succeed
Click here to read a blog post by Dan Smith, Secretary General of International Alert, on the European External Action Service.
EEAS: First Step towards Reinforcement of the European Civil Service?
The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) is an opportunity to prove that the Union can set up an efficient European civil Service with staff coming from different institutions and cultures. It could be the model for more ambitious...
Agreement on EU External Action Service- DFID views
A structure for the European External Action Service (EEAS) was agreed by William Hague and fellow EU foreign ministers.The new service, a product of the Lisbon Treaty, aims to strengthen the EU’s external reach and create a more joined-up approach...
EEAS: European External Action Service on the Brink of Achievement
On 21st June 2010 in Madrid, the Spanish presidency of the European Union, the Commission and the European Parliament, represented by Roberto Gualtieri (S&D), Elmar Brok (EPP) and Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE), have finally reached the political agreement o...
Editorial: The European External Action Service
On 26th July 2010, during a General Affairs meeting, the Council of the European Union finally gave the nod of approval to the setting up of the European External Action Service, which many hope will mark the end of the inter-institutional wrangling...
Rubbing our noses in it
The new EU Ambassador to the United States has started off very well. Very diplomatically.Joao Vale de Almeida, for it is he has dug right in. According to the Washington post he has finally answered Kissinger's supposedly plaintive call,"In this are...
Summary of the Council Decision on the Organization of the European External Action Service
The Council Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has been published in the Official Journal. The decision was adopted after some negotiations with the European Parliament, which, althou...
European Commission’s External Action Service approved by Council amidst protest
The European Commission’s so-called Diplomacy Services, or EEAS for European External Action Service, has been approved by the Council yesterday, amidst quite some rumblings from different sides of the EU bubble. But not everyone rejoices, far...
Battle joined over new EU diplomatic service
Any day now the advertisements should go out for the top jobs in Brussels’ new diplomatic service – the European External Action Service, as it will be boringly known. If the optimists are right, the service will be anything but boring. It’s th...
Will New Diplomatic Service Help EU To Speak With One Voice?
The European Union is just months away from launching a new unified diplomatic service. But any hopes that the new structure will bring greater focus and effectiveness to the bloc's foreign policy are probably premature, analysts say. READ MORE...
European Parliament accepts the establishment of the EEAS
The Parliament’s acceptance of the EEAS, the EU’s diplomatic corps, on July 8 was hailed as a ‘historic’ moment by the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Of course, such words are necessary on special occasions. Nevertheless, Ashto...
We are where we are
The phrase "we are where we are" was oft repeated in this evening’s debate in the House of Commons – but sadly for many MPs it seems that ‘where we are’ was anywhere other than the Green benches judging by the numbers in attendance.While a Ha...
E.U. Diplomatic Service Moves Closer to Birth
After months of delay, the creation of the European Union’s new diplomatic service took a significant step forward Monday, opening the way for it to start phasing in operations by autumn. The new diplomatic service will employ several thousand dipl...
The European Diplomatic Service – Yet Another Win for the European Parliament
There is now a political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on the proposal for a Council Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service. But wait: why do we need a political agre...
Sixth time's a charm as Ashton strikes deal with MEPs on her future EEAS
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has finally reached agreement with the European Parliament's main negotiators on the EU's future diplomatic service, European External Action Service (EEAS).The agreement, concluded after t...
Elmar Brok on the European External Action Service
The shape of the European Union's new diplomatic corps was discussed last week by MEPs. The proposed new European External Action Service will be responsible for coordinating the EU's foreign relations and security cooperation. It may even play a rol...
What is an EU diplomat?
What is an EU diplomat? So far the term has covered a wide scope of diplomats of European origin. It can mean a European Commission official (the only truly European institution), a European Council official or even a diplomat from one of the member...
And the Special Representative for Bosnia is...
Ashton may reshuffle the deck of EU Special Representatives now that the Commission delegations are being upgraded to embassies around the world. This is entirely rational and a good move, even if it does mean, as ever, another round of backstage mem...
Two EU delegations in Geneva
According to a Commission proposal, the EU should have two EU delegations in Geneva in the future in order to be able to fully cover both the UN and the WTO on the highest diplomatic level. If this proposal was agreed, the two delegations would share...
European External Action Service - Budget & posts
According to a Council document forwarded from the Council Secretariat to the Council's budget committee, there is the need for a draft budget and a staff plan for the European External Action Service (EEAS) for 2010. The proposed EEAS budget (this...
Ashton to give EU leaders ‘written reassurance’ on EEAS
A third of the diplomats who will staff the future European External Action Service (EEAS) will come from the EU's member states by 2013, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.
External Representation of the EU Post-Lisbon
Preparing the next lecture for the general course in EU law about the External Relations of the EU, I found a link to the T.C.M. Asser Instituut, where I found the Calendar of Events of the Asser Instituut that could be of wider interest http://www.a...
EU Diplomatic service, EAS: crying and kicking, the baby will grow
Given the very long pregnancy and current birthing problems, many commentators voice pessimism about the EU External Action Service. First among the Cassandras are journalists, not always imune to cynicism, and sometimes confusing soundbites and tren...
EU Diplomatic service, EAS: crying and kicking, the baby will grow
Given the very long pregnancy and current birthing problems, many commentators voice pessimism about the EU External Action Service. First among the Cassandras are journalists, not always imune to cynicism, and sometimes confusing soundbites and tren...
Anecdotes comparing old diplomacy, trade diplomacy and External Action Service
This post is an element supporting my optimistic view about the new EU diplomatic service, at least with a medium to long term perspective. In a separate post, I explain why EAS will eventually succeed. First, I remember visiting years ago the Embass...
Resignation rumours
Well, well, well. The Daily Telegraph on Friday reported that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is expected to resign “within months.” According to the unnamed EU source at the heart of the story: “She has been heard voicing her...
Europe’s lonely foreign minister
Today’s Daily Telegraph carries a story on rumours that the EU’s foreign minister high representative for foreign affairs Cathy Ashton might quit the position within months. It’s interesting to read this as, when reading that Lutz G...
Back and forth on the diplomatic service
How the European Parliament is in its element at the moment! Its de facto veto on the diplomatic service make-up – an issue that brings the institution within spitting distance of glamorous foreign policy – is making MEPs giddy with joy. A finger...
Development groups say EEAS plans breach EU law
A coalition of development groups has said that a proposal for setting up the European External Action Service (EEAS) being considered by EU member states violates the provisions of the Lisbon treaty. Legal advice published by a group of development...
What will come of Lady Ashton’s EEAS blueprint?
With the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, the hopes and fears of euro-skeptics and enthusiasts were stirred. The treaty’s objective of creating an independent and coherent EU foreign policy presence is - on paper, at least - just around the co...
EAS to lead on development
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has brokered a deal with the European Commission for some strategic influence on the development aid budget, according to the draft Council decision for the European External Action Service (EAS) published on 2...
Ashton, the media and a resignation
Lutz Güllner, a spokesperson of Cathy Ashton, has resigned. Obviously, we don’t know the exact reasons but resigning from a job can mean two things. Either you don’t like the job anymore or your boss encourages you to look for something...
Let’s not get too excited about the EEAS!
There is a lot of speculation about the nature of the EEAS these days. Last week the first names for the top posts have been leaked to the press. Since then there has been a fight about organigramms or how a diplomat expressed it: “There’...
European External Action Service – EU gets itself a facelift, but Parliament wants in on the operation
The creation of a European diplomatic service is one of the long expected innovations brought in by the Lisbon Treaty. A fundamental of European integration is the belief that the EU has a global mission, but so far it has lacked the tools to car...
The Lapland experience
Finnish foreign minister Alexander Stubb has drawn up quite a useful metaphor for Catherine Ashton in her job as EU foreign policy chief. She is akin to a football club manager. She has to deal with 27 foreign policy egos or players – “27 Ronaldo...
A European own goal
Expectations were high when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and Catherine Ashton was appointed head of EU foreign policy. One of the first questions asked at the press conference when Ashton was appointed, was whom the world should call on matte...
Don’t waste the golden chance of the EU’s diplomatic service
Setting up the European Union’s new diplomatic service was never going to be easy. Turf wars between the EU’s 27 member-states and the European Commission were inevitable, and the ever meddlesome European Parliament was certainly not go...
Rethinking International Relations: Meet A Guerrilla Diplomat
Daryl Copeland has served in the Canadian Diplomatic service for almost three decades and has traveled on six continents as a backpacker. He sees the traditional diplomacy institutions as not being able to cope with the complexities of a global world...
New EU Foreign Secretary Champions Diplomatic Corps for Europe
The relatively unknown Brit, former EU Trade Commissioner and UK minister, Baroness Catherine Ashton was selected last month to be the European Union’s first official High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The move came...
Foreign policy test
Catherine Ashton, the EU's new foreign policy chief, today set out her ambitions. In a letter to The Times she said that her job was to "make our voice stronger" on the world stage. She also extolled the virtues of...
EU leaders approve outlines of diplomatic service
Task of drafting detailed proposals will be left to the EU's new foreign policy chief. The leaders of the EU's 27 member states have endorsed the outlines of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the new diplomatic corps that is to assist the...
Repairing the bridge
The diplomatic benefits of an undiplomatic outburst. When Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a panel discussion with Israel’s President Shimon Peres in Davos last January, denouncing Israel’s offensive in Gaza and quoting the sixth comma...
А. SEIFERT: "Diplomats Should Check Up Their Compasses"
A famous German researcher, an expert in Central Asia Doctor Arne Seifert commented on current issues of Central Asian region. READ MORE...
