Brussels, 26/08/2010 (Agence Europe) - Administrative preparations for the launch of the European External Action Service (EEAS) are taking shape, with the objective of inaugurating the European diplomatic service on 1 December and having it fully operational for 1 January 2011, according to sources close to Catherine Ashton. At the end of July, further to the Council's adoption of the decision on the creation and functioning of the EEAS (EUROPE 10188), the high representative (HR) of the EU for foreign affairs wrote to the member states, calling on them to put forward candidates for the 90 or so top jobs in the service which need to be filled in the short term. These include the executive secretary general and two deputies, plus the heads of the various directorates general of the EEAS. The smart money seems to be on France's Pierre Vimont for the post of executive secretary general and he is likely to be flanked by the current Polish minister for European affairs Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, and the German diplomat Helga Schmid as his deputies, although Ashton's entourage stresses that “the recruitment process is still underway” and that “no decisions have been taken as yet”. Ashton's final decision on the posts is anticipated for October or November.
The HR has another, more immediate recruitment to make: the appointment, under the annual rotation system, of the new heads of EU delegations to 29 countries (including China, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Macedonia, Albania, Iraq, South Korea, Libya, Pakistan, Singapore, Haiti, Senegal, Jordan and the Philippines) and several deputy heads of delegation to Beijing and Washington. Ashton's decisions on these posts are expected for early September, according to our sources. Behind the scenes, the negotiations of the member states wishing to secure influential posts are in full swing. Possibly coincidentally, the Polish Institute for International Affairs (PISM) has just published a study which argues that the new member states from central and eastern Europe are very under-represented, not only among the heads of the EU's delegations around the world (only two delegations, those to Afghanistan and Norway, are currently headed up by diplomats from member states from eastern Europe), but so too are they among the services of the Commission and the Council which are responsible for external relations. The study also laments a flagrant under-representation of women in key EU diplomatic posts. On Tuesday 26 August, a spokesperson for the Commission pointed out that the number of diplomats from the new member states working for the EEAS should “rise year after year”. “Baroness Ashton stated several times that she will appoint the best people for the right job while being sympathetic to geographical and gender balance”, he added. He also pointed out that the HR has always been opposed to the introduction of national quotas for recruitment. The decision on instituting the EEAS, however, contains a revision clause providing for the situation to be analysed in 2013 and for additional measures to improve the geographical and gender balance to be taken if required, the Commission spokesperson explained.
Budget. On 13 September, the Council will adopt rectifying budget no. 6 to the general budget for 2010, which aims to give the EEAS the financial and human resources needed to get it up and running. In order to allow the service to start working autonomously in 2011, it needs to have its own full budget for the 2011 financial year starting next January. The majority of the resources for the future functioning of the EEAS will be transferred from the institutions (Council and Commission) which were previously responsible for the duties to be carried out in future by the EEAS. Basically, a new section 10, “Service for the external action”, will be added to the budget of the EU. For 2011, it will have an envelope of €79.6 million, to be divided up as follows: - €46 million for staff expenditure. The draft rectifying budget 6/2010 provides for 411 jobs to be moved from the Council to the EEAS. The total cost of moving these jobs has been estimated at €43 million euros. €3 million have also been earmarked for staff training; - €5.9 million for the rental of premises, equipment and running expenses; - €27.7 million for CFSP/ESDP expenses. (H.B./transl.fl)