Strasbourg, 13/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament wants the future European Diplomatic Corps to be under the control of the EP rather than under the responsibility of Member States' governments alone. This was the outcome of a draft resolution from German PES MEP Jo Leinen, on the European Diplomatic Corps (known as the 'European Service for External Action') approved by the Constitutional Affairs Committee on 10 May. The draft resolution will be voted on by the mini-plenary at the end of May in Brussels. It also calls for the Community model to be respected in the EU's external relations. The inter-institutional implications of the future European Diplomatic Corps are being fiercely debated by the Council, Commission and European Parliament.
Although the EP is simply consulted on the issue, MEPs nonetheless hope to have their say in negotiations. EP sources explain that the main concern of MEPs is about the proposal to create a new autonomous diplomatic corps, without any institutional connection with the Commission. MEPs consider that this new service should be integrated into the European Commission services for administrative or budgetary reasons. The Parliament, they say, should above all keep its power of control over financial decisions. In their draft resolution, MEPs stress that, if the diplomatic service is responsible for implementing Council decision, it should nonetheless also comply with those of the Commission in fields such as trade, enlargement and humanitarian policies, for which the Community method is to be applied. The text of the draft resolution specifies that the Commission's attributions in the field of external policy must be respected and that the new service should be composed - in a balance proportion - of officials from the Commission, the Council and from Member States' diplomatic services.