Commission plan paves way for first EU foreign minister

By David Cronin

Date: 19/02/04

EUROPEAN Commission officials are working on a scheme that "could pave the way for an EU foreign minister" as foreseen by the draft constitution drawn up by the Convention on the future of Europe.

An internal Commission paper, seen by European Voice, advocates that the status of the external relations chief, a post currently held by Chris Patten, should be enhanced by making Patten's successor a vice-president of the institution.

According to the paper, the creation of this senior function could prepare the ground for an EU foreign minister.

Officials dealing with the plan say the intention is not for the Commission to provide a rival to the EU's high representative for foreign policy, a job now done by Javier Solana under the aegis of the Council of Ministers. But they acknowledge there could be such a risk when the distinction between the two posts may become blurred.

"The question is not whether such a person [a vice-president for external relations] would clash with Solana," remarked a Commission insider. "But that danger is always there.

"Clearly, the best idea is to have a foreign minister, which would avoid that potential problem."

This external relations supremo would coordinate the work of six other commissioners that would represent the EU in its dealings with the wider world.

Between them, these would handle:

• Relations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and multilateral institutions such as the UN;
• countries bidding for EU membership (including Turkey and the western Balkans);
• the Middle East and the EU's neighbours such as Ukraine, Russia and Belarus;
• Asia, Latin America and the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc;
• trade, and;
• aid - both to industrialized and developing countries.

The paper also recommends that there should be fewer departments dealing with foreign relations. The present directorate-general for enlargement would be subsumed into the DG for external relations, as would those parts of the DG for development dedicated to specific countries.

The units in the Development DG dealing with health, environment, transport and agriculture in poor countries would be transferred into the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, which currently oversees projects in countries ranging from Bosnia to Burkina Faso.

Although Development Commissioner Poul Nielson has advocated such a merger for some time, anti-poverty campaigners are known to oppose the idea.

They believe that the EU executive ought to preserve a department and a commissioner's post that has the fight against poverty as their primary remit, fearing that otherwise the focus on poverty could play second fiddle to other policy goals, such as combating terrorism or boosting trade.

"There should be a commissioner for development and humanitarian affairs," said Simon Stocker from Eurostep, an alliance of development groups, including Oxfam and ActionAid.

"The portfolio should cover programming, as well as implementation. And his or her institutional capacity within the Commission should be sufficiently autonomous and clear and well-enough resourced to work with other commissioners on an equal basis."

The Commission's paper is part of reflections about how the institution can be reorganized after a new team of commissioners take office in November. Officials say part of the reflection is motivated by the need to find responsibilities for the additional commissioners, as the next College will have 25 members.

At present, there are four commissioners devoted to affairs outside the Union's borders - Chris Patten (external relations), Günter Verheugen (enlargement), Pascal Lamy (trade) and Nielson.

An internal European Commission paper seen by European Voice proposes that the post of European Commissioner for External Relations should be enhanced by making the postholder a Vice-President of the Commission. The creation of this senior function could prepare the ground for a European Union Foreign Minister.

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