Brussels, 06/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, the EU's High Representative for the CFSP over the last ten years, has announced that he will not be seeking to renew his mandate, which expires on 18 October. Mr Solana informed the Spanish daily, ABC, on Sunday 5 July: “I think my time has come…I don't intend to continue”. Solana, a Spanish national, will be 67 next week (14 July) and really has permeated European and Atlantic foreign policy, first of all as his country's minister for foreign affairs (1992-95), then as NATO Secretary General (1995-99) and as Secretary General of the Council and High Representative (HR) of the European Union for CFSP since October 1999. For ten years, Mr Solana has also been the Secretary General of the Western European Union (WEU).
With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty planned for this autumn or at the beginning of 2010 (on the condition that the Irish vote in favour of the new treaty and that the Polish, Czech and German presidents finalise their countries' ratification procedure), the post occupied by Mr Solana will be ratcheted up a notch. The future “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy” will therefore also be Vice-President of the European Commission. He will also have a European external action service, whose structure, makeup, competences and functioning will still need to be defined once the Lisbon Treaty enters into force (the technical work has been suspended since the Irish “no” vote in June last year but is due to resume shortly). In the event of the second Irish referendum (very probably on 2 October) voting for the new treaty, the Swedish Presidency would like the European Council on 29-30 October to decide on Mr Solana's successor, as well as on the first permanent president of the European Council (the other post created by the Lisbon Treaty). At this stage, no official candidate has yet registered for either of these posts but several names are being circulated. Hence, for the post of High Representative there is talk of Olli Rehn (the current commissioner for enlargement, who is interested in the post and would have the backing of the Finnish government and European Liberal political family), Carl Bildt (even though the current Swedish foreign minister asserts that he is not interested), Dora Bakoyannis (the Greek foreign affairs minister, who has never concealed her goal of acceding to a senior international role), Joschka Fischer (the former German minister for foreign affairs, whose party, the German Greens, however, is no longer in the German government), Franco Frattini, Michel Barnier and even the former secretary general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. As for the permanent president of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker and Tony Blair have been highlighted. Some quarters are also attempting to launch the candidacy of Felipe Gonzales.
The Council will use qualified majority voting to appoint the HR, with the agreement of the Commission. The permanent president of the European Council is elected by heads of state and government by qualified majority for a period of two and half years and can be renewed on one occasion only. (H.B./transl.rh)