The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, called on Monday 10 October for EU ambassadors based around the world to change their working methods.
Believing that the EU was thinking too much internally and then trying to export its model without thinking enough about how others would perceive this exportation of models, Borrell asked the ambassadors to listen more. “We have to be much more on ‘listening mode’ to the other side – the other side is the rest of the world. We need to have more empathy”, he added, saying that Europeans tended to overestimate rational arguments and underestimate the role of emotion and “the persistent appeal of identity politics”.
The High Representative called on ambassadors to be more responsive, complaining that they learn about third countries in the media and not through diplomatic channels. “We have to be faster and take risks. I need you to report fast, in real time”, he insisted. Adding: “Having all of you around the world, I should be the best informed person in the world – at least as much as any Foreign Affairs Minister. I am ‘Foreign Affairs Minister of Europe’”.
For Borrell, ambassadors should take risks, taking the example of the establishment of the European Peace Facility for Ukraine. “Maybe we have to start doing things that we have never done in the past. When we hesitate, we regret it”, he explained.
The head of diplomacy also said that ambassadors should seek a balance between what is announced and what is implemented, “because sometimes some announcements discredit us if they are not being followed by concrete actions”.
Furthermore, according to the High Representative, a better balance is needed between crisis management and long-term management. “We live in crisis management... Crisis, crisis, crisis. Foreign policy is not just managing crises one after the other”, he reminded listeners.
Finally, the Head of Diplomacy insisted on the communication battle, expressing surprise that some EU delegations do not take it into account enough. “This is a battle that we are not winning because we are not fighting enough”, he said, calling on ambassadors to do more: be present on social networks, on television, in debates, retweeting his messages or those of the European External Action Service and communicating in the local language. “I need you to be much more engaged in this battle of narratives. It is not something secondary”, he insisted. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)