The Council Secretariat’s Role in the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Abstract: The Council Secretariat, under the leadership of Javier Solana, has become an indispensable actor in the context of the CFSP. This article gives a comprehensive overview of this institution’s development path since the beginning of European Political Cooperation (1970). It argues that with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty and the parallel Cologne European Council (both 1999), the Secretariat received at once a political and a military dimension. This has been the basis for a significant expansion during the last decade. From a wider perspective it shows that the Council Secretariat fills the political absence of the European Commission in the field of the CFSP. The Council Secretariat is basically strong in areas where the Commission is weak. These inter–institutional dynamics are important with a view to the Lisbon Treaty, which will see a partial merger of the CFSP services in both institutions. Lastly this article argues on a theoretical level that while these developments are significant, the rationale behind the Council Secretariat is different from the role of the Commission in the first pillar and this limits its potential.