MEPs seek to control Union’s foreign service

By David Cronin

Date: 17/02/05

MEPs look set to demand that the anticipated EU foreign service will be held accountable to the European Parliament, rather than solely to the Union's governments.

German deputy Elmar Brok will next Thursday (24 February) present a report to the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee urging that the foreign service works under the aegis of the European Commission. This will allow MEPs to be regularly updated on its activities and to take decisions affecting its budget.

Brok said that, because the draft EU treaty envisages that the Union's foreign minister should be a vice-president of the Commission, it would be logical to have diplomats assisting him or her also in the Commission. Brok pledged to reject any moves to have the diplomatic service as part of the Council of Ministers instead, fearing this would leave it answerable to EU governments.

"A great part of foreign relations is already part of the Commission: Relex [external relations], trade and development," Brok explained. "Because the foreign minister

will be a vice-president of the Commission, we should have just one administration. Why should we have another administration that is not controllable, that is not accountable to Parliament?"

But a Council of Ministers' official insisted that under the proposed EU constitution,

the foreign service is a "double-hatted" institution and should

be answerable to both the Commission and member states, not solely under the former's aegis.

The service will comprise Commission officials, member states' diplomats and officials from the Council.

Brok will argue too that the foreign minister will need to be supported by a network of EU embassies throughout the world.

He will urge that work on creating the service begins swiftly so that it can be operational as soon as the EU constitution comes into effect, possibly in 2007.

Article anticipates the discussion in the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee of a report drafted by German MEP Elmar Brok (EPP-ED) on the 'Institutional aspects of creating a European service for external action' (2004/2207(INI)). The report suggests to make the future External Service of the European Union, as foreseen by the Constitutional Treaty for Europe, accountable to the European Parliament, rather than solely to the Union's governments.