Commission and Council plan joint Africa envoy

The European Commission and the Council of Ministers are drafting plans for a new job as EU envoy to Africa which would for the first time combine roles from both institutions.

The Commission and the Council are still working on the job profile, the mission and the scope of the post but it is expected that the envoy’s task would involve security, development and humanitarian aid.

The position comes as the Union plans to hold an EU-Africa summit for the first time in seven years and as a joint EU-Africa strategy to focus on climate change, migration and energy is being drafted. "We are upgrading our relationship with the African Union with the summit and the joint strategy and this post fits in with that," said an EU official.

"All in all we are trying to introduce some coherence to the system and more visibility for the EU," the official added.

The UK has already expressed interest in the position, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown nominating Valerie Amos as candidate. Amos is the UK’s former development minister and was the country’s first female black cabinet minister.

But it is understood that an Italian candidate has also been put forward for the job and EU officials expect other nominations once the position is published.

It is not clear when the job profile will be decided or when the post might be published but it is hoped that it would be filled before the EU-Africa summit in December.

The idea to combine roles from the Commis-sion and Council was "unusual", said the EU official, adding that it anticipated plans in the new reform treaty to give more coherence to the EU’s external action by appointing a single foreign policy chief, taking orders from both the Commission and Council. The treaty, which is expected to be approved by member states in October, is set to come into effect in 2009.

The envoy to Africa may not eliminate the need for special envoys to crisis areas such as Darfur as this "will depend on the particular crisis", said the EU official.

He added that the post would not cut across the duties performed by Louis Michel, the European development commissioner, as the Commission has been working with the Council to avoid an overlap.

The European Commission and the Council of Ministers are drafting plans for a new job as EU envoy to Africa which would for the first time combine roles from both institutions.