Work continues on diplomatic corps despite ‘Non’ and ‘Nee’

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 02/06/05

Work is continuing on proposals to establish the EU's own diplomatic service, despite the plan being part of the treaty rejected by French and Dutch voters earlier this week.

According to officials, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the Council of Ministers' external relations chief Javier Solana will present their report on progress towards establishing the service to EU leaders later this month as planned.

The establishment of the so-called European External Action Service and the post of EU foreign minister, both part of the constitution, were heralded by many as a shot in the arm to the EU's burgeoning common foreign policy.

Despite the treaty being in intensive care, wounded by the French vote, work on both proposals continued this week with ambassadors meeting in Brussels yesterday (1 June) to discuss the matter.

While officials say a political decision on whether or not to press ahead with the service and the appointment of a foreign minister is unlikely before leaders meet in Brussels on 16-17 June, legal experts say that the plans could go ahead despite a decision to reject the constitution.

According to Sebastian Kurpas of the Centre for European Policy Studies, an agreement between the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament could be enough to introduce an EU foreign minister and a diplomatic corps.

According to Kurpas, in order not to break current rules, the deal would have to maintain the existing balance of power between the three EU institutions.

An agreement on the dual role of the foreign minister, as both head of the Council and a member of the Commission, would have to be crafted very carefully to avoid breaking such rules, which call on commissioners not to take instructions from member states, he said.

"It should be spelled out very clearly when exactly it is acting as one and when as the other," he said.

But despite the apparent agreement between member states on the make-up and role of the service, the votes in the Netherlands and France threaten to reopen institutional wrangling which has only recently been resolved.

Some are now calling for the service to be based on the Commission delegations rather than being set up outside the existing Council and Commission structures as currently envisaged.

German MEP Elmar Brok, who chairs the Parliament's foreign affairs committee, is one advocate of such a move.

He said: "It would be a development of the current situation."

Brok added that the Parliament, which has to agree on the establishment of the service, would return to the matter and that he saw "no reason" to withdraw proposals to establish the service from the Parliament.

Article reports that work was continuing on proposals to establish the EU's own diplomatic service, despite the plan being part of the Constitutional Treaty, rejected by French and Dutch voters on 29 May and 1 June 2005. According to officials, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the Council of Ministers' external relations chief Javier Solana were to present their report on progress towards establishing the service to EU leaders at the June 2005 European Council.