Presidency intensifies diplomatic corps talks

By David Cronin

Date: 28/04/05

The Luxembourg government is holding a series of meetings with its EU counterparts today and tomorrow (28-29 April) to discuss plans for the Union's future diplomatic service.

The bilateral talks with national governments indicate an intensification of preparatory work for the European External Action Service (EEAS), even though its creation will depend on the outcome of referenda on the EU constitution.

The EEAS is supposed to provide support to Javier Solana when he becomes the EU's first foreign minister - a role created by the constitution which would make him both a member of the European Commission and chairman of the Council of national foreign ministers.

Luxembourg, as holder of the EU presidency, is trying to get more precise answers from the member states as to their views on the scope and size of the service and on the employment terms for those recruited to its ranks.

Those staff will be drawn from the secretariat of the Council of Ministers, from the Commission services and from the national foreign ministries.

The EEAS dossier will be considered by the external relations group of commissioners next Tuesday (3 May). A report from Solana and the Commission is to be presented to June's EU summit.

Five papers prepared by the legal service of the Council have been circulated to member states' officials, covering the statute of the EEAS, personnel, budget, administrative functions and the management of the EU's delegations abroad.

The legal advice is that the EEAS cannot be created as a 'normal service' inside one of the institutions. Although the EEAS could be totally autonomous of the Commission or Council, in practice that would mean it duplicated tasks of support and administrative management.

The recruitment of staff has been separated into two categories: those currently working for the Commission or the secretariat of the Council and those employed by national administrations.

For the first category, the legal advisors believe the question is whether to transfer staff or detach them.

Transferring would mean a uniform statute applicable to all officials of the EEAS. But detachment would mean that officials kept their rights and obligations to their parent institutions (Council or the Commission). "Management of staff would not be made easier," the legal advice observes.

For staff seconded from national administrations, the question would be whether to employ them as temporary agents or as detached national experts.

The temporary agents option "would have the advantage that all detached staff of the member states would be subject to uniform rules (on salary, benefits and immunities)".

The detached national experts route would mean disparities in remuneration between EU officials and these staff, depending on their sponsoring national administration.

The European Parliament is to hold a debate on the service on 11 May. German Socialist MEP Jo Leinen has tabled a question to the Commission for that debate, asking how the assembly can hold the service up to scrutiny.

The general view expressed at the Parliament's committees on foreign and constitutional affairs was that "we don't want to have a bureaucracy outside existing structures", he said. The main structure of the service should be located within the Commission, he said, though it would take orders from the Council on foreign policy questions outside the Commission's remit.

Article reports on latest developments in the discussions about the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Union's future diplomatic service, which is to be set up subject to the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. Intensive talks were taking place across the EU institutions and Member States about the exact nature and the organisation of the EEAS.