European External Action Service

The European External Action Service (EEAS or EAS) is a European Union (EU) department^[2] that was established following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009. It was formally launched on 1 December 2010^[3] and serves as a foreign ministry and diplomatic corps for the EU, implementing the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and other areas of the EU's external representation. The EEAS is under the authority of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), a post also created by the Treaty of Lisbon, whom it assists.

The EEAS manages the EU's response to crises, has intelligence capabilities and cooperates with the Commission in areas which it shares competence with. However, although the High Representative and the EEAS can propose and implement policy, it will not make it as that role is left to the Foreign Affairs Council which the High Representative chairs.^[2][4]

The EEAS is unique and independent from other EU institutions, formed by merger of the external relation departments of the Council and the European Commission, sitting outside those institutions and it also has its own independent budget.^[2]

History

The EEAS was first included in the failed European Constitution, a single EU external relations department was seen as necessary to support the proposed single HR post; as Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, says it would '...be like having a conductor without an orchestra—or rather, a conductor trying to conduct two separate orchestras at the same time.'^[5] Following the rejection of the Constitution, the changes were revived in the Treaty of Lisbon which came into force in 2009.

The mandate for the External Action Service is laid down under article 13a-III of the Treaty of Lisbon (TEU Article 27), and states the following:

Shortly before the treaty came into force, Catherine Ashton was named HR and tasked with drawing up the structure of the new EEAS. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake Ashton chaired a meeting of the foreign policy actors across the Commission, Council and member states to give a coordinated response to the disaster. Although she refused to describe it as the first act of the external action service, Ashton did stress that it was the first time that such a co-ordination between all the various EU foreign policy actors had been accomplished before.^[7]

Throughout the first half of 2010 Ashton fought for agreement between the Council, Parliament and the Commission as to the future shape of the EEAS. The Commission wanted to retain as many of its existing competencies (trade, development, enlargement, representations and so forth) as possible^[8] while Parliament fought to gain as much oversight over the EEAS as possible by demanding scrutiny of appointments and budgets.^[9] Parliament removed the last hurdle to the plan on 8 July, when MEPs approved the service by 549 votes for and 78 against with 17 abstentions. The Council approved the transfer of departments to the EAS on 20 July. Until the EEAS became operational, Ashton was only been supported by a around 30 people on a floor of the Berlaymont building.^[4][10] The EEAS was formally launched at the Commission headquarters in a low key event on 1 December 2010.^[3]

Organisation

For organisation of the executive offices, see 'senior posts' below

The EEAS manages general foreign relations, security and defence policies and controls the Situation Centre (see intelligence below). However, although the HR and the EEAS can prepare initiatives, member states make the final policy decisions and the Commission also plays a part in technical implementation. The HR must report to the European Parliament.^[2] The EEAS would have desks dedicated to all the countries and regional organisations in the world, and specialised units for democracy, human rights and defence.^[11]

The EEAS has six geographical departments headed by a managing director. The departments divide the world into: 1) Africa, 2) Asia, 3) Americas, 4) the Middle East and Southern Neighbourhood, 5) Russia, the Eastern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans and 6) Global and Multilateral Affairs.^[12] Geographic desks are not duplicated in the Commission.^[13] The EEAS also includes departments for security, strategic policy planning, legal affairs, inter-institutional relations, information and public diplomacy, internal audit and inspections, and personal data protection.^[10]

Departments transferred

Parts of the following departments have been transferred from the Commission or Council to the External Action Service:^[10] the Policy Unit (Council), Directorate-General E (Council), Officials of the General Secretariat of the Council on secondment to European Union Special Representatives and ESDP missions Directorate-General for External Relations (Commission), External Service (Commission – Delegations), Directorate-General for Development (Commission).

Staff

Staff is drawn from the Commission and Council and from the member states' diplomatic services, seconded temporarily. The HR's appoints his or her own staff directly.^[2] There are no national quotas for the 1100 staff members and a maximum of 40% will be from member states. The rest are permanent and initially dominated by former Commission staff.^[13] This is in part due to need to establish a common diplomatic culture, which is also what has prompted calls for a European diplomatic academy.^[14]

On 1 January 2011 the first staff were permanently transferred to the EEAS: 585 from the Commissions External Relations DG (which ceased to exist), 93 from the Commissions Development DG (the remainder of which merged into Development Cooperation DG), 436 from the Commission delegations and 411 from the Council of the European Union. These joined with 118 new posts to create a staff of 1643 on the day of transfer.^[15]

Staff have the same rights and privileges regardless of whether they come from the Commission, Council or national services.^[16] There have been concerns, notably in leaked German foreign policy documents, that the whole structure of the EEAS is becoming dominated by the British. It is believed HR Ashton is open to influence from London and that there are a large number of British staff in high ranking positions already poised to take on the EEAS' top jobs. The steering group for the setting up of the EEAS itself has 3 of its 13 members from the UK, while only one is from Germany.^[11]

Senior posts

While the HR conducts shuttle diplomacy, with the special representatives reporting directly to her, the day-to-day administration of the EEAS will be handled by an Executive Secretary-General.^[17]

The EEAS shall be managed by an Executive Secretary-General who will operate under the authority of the High Representative. The Executive Secretary-General shall take all measures necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the EEAS, including its administrative and budgetary management. The Executive Secretary-General shall ensure effective coordination between all departments in the central administration as well as with the Union Delegations.

—Council agreement's outline of the duties of the Executive Secretary-General^[10]

Below the secretary-general there are two deputy secretaries-general. One of the deputy secretaries-general will deal with administrative matters (such as coordination and cooperation with the Commission) while the other will assist with foreign policy formulation.^[4][17][18] However under the final agreed plans the HR would be deputised by a relevant European Commissioner or the foreign minister holding the rotating council presidency.^[13]

The secretary-general will also oversee the autonomous cells such as the Situation Centre (see intelligence below), the military staff, an internal security unit, audit unit and a unit for communications and relations with other EU institutions.^[17] The chief operating officer deals with the budget and administration and six managing directors each manage a department (see organisation).^[12] The following are the initial office holders;^[19]

Ashton has also appointed Robert Cooper as EEAS Counsellor^[3][32] and Claude-France Arnould (France) as Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency on 6 January 2011.^[23]

Delegations

The former Commission's representations abroad fall under the EEAS as EU embassies (although representing the whole of the EU under Lisbon, the Commission had wanted to retain management).^[2] The delegations would also support visits from MEPs, delegation heads would have hearings in Parliament (though no veto) and they are at the disposal of Parliament for questions concerning the country they dealt with.^[9] There are EU delegations in nearly every UN member state^[33] and each head of delegation is the EU ambassador (appointed by the High Representative).

On 1 January 2010 all former European Commission delegations were renamed European Union delegations and were gradually upgraded into embassy-type missions that employ greater powers than the regular delegations. These upgraded delegations have taken on the role previously carried out by the national embassies of the member state holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union and merged with the independent Council delegations around the world. Through this the EU delegations take on the role of co-ordinating national embassies and speaking for the EU as a whole, not just the Commission.^[34]

The first delegation to be upgraded was the one in Washington D.C., the new joint ambassador was Joao Vale de Almeida who outlined his new powers as speaking for both the Commission and Council presidents, and member states. He would be in charge where there was a common position but otherwise, on bilateral matters, he would not take over from national ambassadors. All delegations are expected to be converted by the end of 2010.^[35] Some states may choose to operate through the new EU delegations and close down some of their smaller national embassies, however France has indicated that it will maintain its own network around the world for now.^[36]

Budget

The EEAS's budget is proposed and managed by the HR^[2] and be signed off every year by Parliament. Parliament would also review the budget of each EU mission; Parliaments oversight would put an end to a long standing gentlemen's agreement whereby Parliament and Council do not look at each others budget details.^[9] The initial budget for 2010 is €9.5 million^[13] and once it is fully operation it may rise to €3 billion.^[37]

Parliamentary oversight

Parliament has fought to gain oversight over the EEAS and under final plans the budget, though independent, would be scrutinised by MEPs who can approve or reject it. Parliament would also be consulted on overseas missions and have stronger budgetary oversight over those too. They would also informally vet appointments to prominent foreign embassies and have access to some classified EEAS documents^[4][13]

Intelligence and security

As part of the merger, the intelligence gathering services in the Commission and Council will be merged. These services are the Council's Joint Situation Centre (SitCen) and Watch-Keeping Capability and the Commission's Crisis Room. The Situation Centre has 110 staff and has a cell of intelligence analysts from member states who pool classified information to produce concise reports on important topics. It also runs a 24/7 alert desk based on public sources which then updates EU diplomats via SMS on current events. The Watch-Keeping Capability is composed of 12 police and military officers who gather news from the EU's overseas missions.^[38]

The Commission's Crisis Room is run by six commission officials who run a restricted website reporting breaking news on the 118 active conflicts in the world based on open sources and news from EU embassies. It uses scientific tools including statistical analysis and software which scans global TV broadcasts for names and key words. Details on the plans for the new merged intelligence service are still sketchy as of early 2010 but it will not run undercover operations along the lines of national intelligence agencies despite proposals from Belgium and Austria after the 2004 Madrid train bombings.^[38]

The Situation Centre and Crisis Room would be merged and headed by the HR. It would be located near the HR's office headed by a director-general with a staff of around 160 people and a budget of 10 to 20 million euro a year. It would have IT experts, scientists, tacticians and seconded intelligence operatives. It would send people into crisis zones to gather information and have 24/7 hotlines to EU delegations around the world. It would give the HR an immediate and powerful asset in an emergency without having to go via the Council's Political and Security committee first.^[39] However it is unclear if the Council's Clearing House (or Working Group CP 931 which deals with the EU's terrorism blacklist^[40]) would be merged into the EEAS along with these other bodies.^[41]

Meanwhile Ashton has appointed a Polish security operative to head a working group designing the security architecture of the EEAS; particularly the physical security of the EEAS building and its communication network with its embassies. It is seen as particularly important due to the EEAS handling sensitive, as discussed above, amid espionage concerns from China and Russia.^[41]

In September 2010, job adverts went out to EU institutions and national embassies for three junior posts at the EEAS. One for foreign deployment, one for a multi-lingual internet researcher and one to follow up on open and confidential information sources. The adverts expressed more about the future department's work, in particular at the new director would be expected to travel to global hotspots.^[42] The director of the Joint Situation Centre was appointed in December 2010, Finnish security chief Ilkka Salmi.^[29]

The High Representative also has authority over the European Defence Agency, EU Institute for Security Studies and the EU Satellite Centre, though these remain autonomous from the EEAS itself.^{[43][44][45][46]}

Commission's responsibilities

The European Commission managed to retain control over its competencies in aid (and its €6 billion a year budget), development, energy and enlargement. This gives the relevant Commissioners the lead in those areas^[4] and deputise for the HR when necessary.^[13] Although the service will have cells for the Commission's areas, decisions will have to be made jointly by the HR and the College of Commissioners.^[2]

However Ashton's draft plan for the EEAS include proposals for the EEAS to take responsibility for Neighbourhood Policy (currently assigned to the Enlargement Commissioner) and international development at least.^[47] Under a compromise with the Commission, it was agreed development would be split, with the EEAS taking on three of the five planning cycles from the Commission.^[16]

The following Directorates-General (DGs) and Commissioners are not being merged and decisions in these areas require approval from the college of Commissioners:

• EuropeAid Development and Cooperation (inc ECHO): Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva.
• DG Enlargement: Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle.
• DG Trade: Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht.
• DG Energy: Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger.
• Foreign Policy Instruments Service

Location

The EEAS is based in the Triangle building (also known as the Capital, or Axa building) on Schuman roundabout in the heart of Brussels' EU Quarter. The building is leased at £12 million-a-year. Prior to moving in, future EEAS staff were located in eight separate buildings at a cost of €25 million each year.^[48] The EEAS lease most of the building, with Commission departments filling the remaining space.^[1] The European Personnel Selection Office (Epso) was already occupying part of the building since July 2010.^[1]

It was originally expected that the EEAS would take over the Commission's Charlemagne building^[49] on the Rue de la Loi which housed the now defunct Directorate-General for External Relations (RELEX). However that building was thought to be too small,^[1] would be too closely associated with RELEX (going against the image of the EEAS as a unique independent institution)^[50] and would take too long to overhaul.^[48] It was also proposed that the EEAS take over the Lex building.^[1] Due to cost and security considerations, Ashton had preferred to take over the Lex building which could be rented from the Council at a lower rate and already has a higher security rating with underground tunnels to the main Commission and Council buildings. However in order to take over the building, the council staff would have to be willing to leave and the Council's budget increased so they could find new accommodation.^[50] Due to the staff in Lex unwilling to move, the triangle building was chosen by Ashton in October 2010.^[48]

See also

References

External links

• Official website
• Watch "EU in the World" on Youtube
• Web site of EEAS Trade Unions