Empowering EU Diplomacy: The European External Action Service as an opportunity for EU foreign policy

Abstract:

The weeks ahead will determine how an important new entity established under the Treaty of Lisbon - the European External Action Service (EEAS) - will take shape. The negotiations on a number of complex and politically sensitive organizational decisions regarding the status of the EEAS, its areas of authority, the role of the Member States in staffing decisions, and other issues are pressed for time and accompanied by intensive bargaining and infighting between the Member States and the institutions of the EU.

The EEAS is not intended to become Europe’s 28th diplomatic service or a pawn of special interest groups in the various institutions; rather, it is to ensure the coherence and effectiveness of the EU’s external activities. The strategic development of this new entity should therefore be guided and supported by a group outside European Council structures.