Brussels, 12/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The College of European Commissioners, including High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Commission Vice-President (HRVP) Catherine Ashton, held a lengthy discussion on the new European External Action Service (EEAS), the new European diplomatic corps, on Thursday 11 March. According to those present, the meeting brought agreement on basic principles, such as avoiding any duplication of responsibilities between the EEAS, the Commission and the Secretariat General of the Council, all of which should complement one another. “The service has to ensure a maximum of coherence and complementarity between foreign policy proper, which is the task of the service, and the external aspects of the internal policies which are the tasks of the Commission services,” the Commission says. European Commissioners also share the view recently expressed in the European Parliament that the EEAS must, under no circumstances, bring a “decommunitarisation” of EU common policies (see EUROPE 10095). “It is a matter of absolute consensus that issues like trade policy, development aid, humanitarian aid, enlargement policy etc will, of course, stay with the Commission. What shall be done in the EEAS is foreign policy proper and ensuring the coherence of it all,” said a source at the Commission.
The HR and the Commission share the same vision of the general approach on the diplomatic service, “far from the tales of 'power struggles' told in the press”, said the source. Issues left for future discussion relate rather to “practical arrangements” affecting the actual operation of the Service. Those close to Ashton also want to give reassurance and to minimise discussions being conducted on the sidelines. “The high representative is optimistic.” She believes that these practical problems will be resolved quickly and that the agreed timetable will be respected. This timetable requires the HR to bring forward her legislative proposal on the creation of the EEAS before the end of this month and the Council to reach agreement on the text before the end of April. “Getting agreement for the end of April is still the target and we think that it is feasible,” said a source close to Ashton. This source says that before presenting her proposal, the HR will try to forge “broad consensus” among all the players, including with the European Parliament which, under co-decision, will have input on the financial settlement and any review of terms and conditions of employment of staff.
At the Commission meeting on Thursday, four issues loomed large in discussion (“Each needs further discussion,” we are told). These were:
Programming of development aid. Clear preference emerged within the Commission for “horizontal division” of labour between the EEAS and the Commission services, it is said. In concrete terms, this means that the diplomatic corps will do the “political prioritisation” part of development policy and the Commission will remain responsible for putting this policy into practice, including, therefore, management of the European Development Fund (EDF) and the Financing Instrument for Development Cooperation (IDC). The fine detail on this sharing of responsibilities still has to be agreed. In her note to member states last week (see EUROPE 10092) Ashton proposed three options for future programming of development aid. Following Thursday's debate, the Commission would seem to have ruled out two of these: the one that gave the EEAS responsibility for all of the programming process (option 1) and the one which would have divided the policy in two, with the Commission having responsibility for the ACP countries (and the EDF) and the EEAS being responsible for the countries of Asia and Latin America (option 3). There is “strong consensus” between the Commission and the HR on the basic principles, our source reveals: - the EEAS must ensure consistency between overall foreign policy priorities and development priorities; - Commission savoir-faire and expertise from the ground must adequately inform policy formation in the EEAS; - clear rules are needed to ensure financial settlements are respected when projects are implemented.
Appointment of heads of delegation. Everyone agrees that the HR, as head of the diplomatic corps which will manage the 130 plus EU delegations in non-EU countries, will also be the “appointing authority”. There remains a problem, however, in the fact that delegations will also contain Commission staff responsible for policy implementation and for budgets for which the Commission is accountable to the European Parliament. “We need to find a formula which squares those two principles in order to ensure that the budget authorities can be re-assured,” the Commission says. In her recent working paper, Ashton suggested that heads of delegation should be appointed by herself, but “in conjunction with the Commission”, and that they may receive instructions not only from the HR, but also from the president of the European Council and members of the Commission.
When it comes to giving instructions, the best solution has still to be found to ensure that the Commission may effectively give instructions to the delegation concerning the implementation of Community policies remaining under its aegis, such as trade or enlargement (in practical terms, this means that the EU delegation in Ankara, for example, although working under Ashton's authority, should also comply with instructions given by Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle). Our source states that the “main thing is to ensure that instructions given by the HR do not contradict those given by the Commission”.
Representatives (deputies) for Catherine Ashton. Given her many responsibilities, it is physically impossible for Catherine Ashton to be present everywhere at the same time. The high representative will therefore receive assistance from deputies or personal representatives. Three different sources of support are foreseen. First of all, within the EEAS, she will be seconded by a secretary general, two assistant secretary generals and six directors general. Names are already being mentioned for the post of secretary general (these include former French ambassadors Pierre Sellal and Pierre Vimont, as well as Christoph Heusgen of Germany, who is adviser to Angela Merkel) but absolutely nothing has yet been decided as “we do not even have an organisation chart yet”, sources close to Ashton say. Secondly, within the Commission, Commissioners Stefan Füle (enlargement and neighbourhood policy), Andris Piebalgs (development) and Kristalina Georgieva (humanitarian aid) are also available to assist Ashton by representing her on certain issues, if needs be. Finally, the 27 foreign ministers are also available for representation, HR sources explain.
No consular protection. For now, Catherine Ashton does not plan to give EU external delegations consular powers but this option cannot be ruled out. “In the initial phase, the EEAS will not deal with consular protection”, sources close to the high representative say. The question was discussed by foreign ministers during their informal meeting in Cordoba (EUROPE 10093), showing that the opinions of the 27 member states differ on this. To this end, Catherine Ashton “will be guided by what the Council wants”, our source states. (H.B./transl.jl)