Member State ministers at general Affairs Council agree on establishment of European External Action Service
By admin at 2 August, 2010, 6:11 pm
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On 26 July at the General Affairs Council (GAC), the Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States formally agreed on the proposal from the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton (High Representative) for a Council Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External ActionService (EEAS).
This decision is the baseline for starting practical work on the establishment of the EEAS, including the recruitment of personnel. In accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EEAS will support the High Representative in fulfilling her mandate. Thus the task of the EEAS will be, under the High Representative’s leadership, to build and to conduct the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union and to prepare proposals for further development of this policy. The EEAS will also support the High Representative in her capacity of President of the Foreign Affairs Council, and as Vice-President of the Commission. The High Representative and the EEAS will also work closely with the EC Commissioner from Latvia Andris Piebalgs who is in charge of development co-operation, and with structures placed under his authority. The Treaty of Lisbon also provides for a close co-operation between the EEAS and the diplomatic services of the EU Member States.
The EEAS will be made up not only of a central administration in Brussels but also of the European Commission representations in third countries and to international organisations that following the entry into effect of the Treaty of Lisbon and the establishment of the EEAS have become EU delegations.
The EEAS will be placed under the authority of the High Representative. Its daily operations will be managed by a Secretary-General assisted by two Deputy Secretaries-General. The central administration of the EEAS shall be organised in directorates general comprising geographic desks covering all countries and regions of the world as well as multilateral and thematic desks in charge of human rights issues and the EU relations with international organisations. The central administration will also include departments in charge, for instance, of the EEAS staff and budgetary matters, legal matters, the EEAS relations with other EU institutions, and public diplomacy.
The EEAS staff will comprise both personnel from the diplomatic services of the Member States and officials and other servants from the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission who have been working to date with the EU external action matters. The decision on the EEAS provides that staff from Member States should represent at least one third of all EEAS staff working with political matters. Thus, with the practical establishment of the EEAS, also Latvia’s diplomats will have an opportunity to hold positions and work for the EEAS.
The purpose of establishing the EEAS is to build a more visible and coherent EU external action. This means more efficient EU operations when forging relations both with its strategic partners and with third countries and regions, as well as with international organisations. It is intended that the EU delegations in third countries will assume a co-ordinating role in performing the function of consular protection for the EU citizens in crisis situations, for instance, in natural disasters. Launching the work of the EEAS will expand the presence of the EU’s small and medium sized member states in third countries and regions where those members have not had a possibility so far to open their embassies or consular missions.
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