The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be in charge of the European external action service with delegations in different countries, and will ensure that the Union has a stronger voice on the international arena. Therefore, the Union will not only have a “foreign affairs minister” but also a European external action service, meaning a diplomatic service with delegations in several countries.
The European External Action Service will be composed by a combination of national diplomatic services of the Member States and officials from the Council General Secretariat and of the Commission. The organisation and functioning of the Service will be established by a Council decision on a proposal from the High Representative, after consulting the European Parliament and obtaining the consent of the Commission. Hence, it will be decided by QMV.
Questions regarding institutional arrangements, competences (Commission/Council secretariat) and financing were not answered by the Lisbon Treaty. The provision concerning the European external action service is highly imprecise.
The Lisbon Treaty has not entered into force yet but that has not prevented member states for starting negotiations over the European External Action Service. In fact, the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) has been discussing the subject for quite sometime. On 30 October, the European Council endorsed the Presidency's report on guidelines for the European External Action Service. But, ultimately, it is up to the future EU foreign affairs minister to present the final proposal on the EEAS which according to the EU leaders should be made “as soon as possible after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty with a view to its adoption by the Council at the latest by the end of April 2010.” The EEAS is likely to be up and running by 2012.
According to the Swedish EU Presidency’s report the EEAS “should be a service of a sui generis nature separate from the Commission and the Council Secretariat.” The EEAS would have its own budget line in the EU budget. The EU's new foreign minister would be in charge of the budget and will appoint his own staff independently of other EU institutions.
The European Parliament does not have much say over the creation of the EEAS as it is only consulted. Nevertheless, a few days before the European Council, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the EEAS to be part of the Commission administrative structure and be funded from the Commission budget. The European Parliament urged the Commission, “in its preparatory work on the EEAS, to put its full weight as an institution behind the objective of preserving and further developing the Community model in the Union's external relations.” The MEPs do not want the EEAS to be a purely intergovernmental structure neither a totally independent body as they want it to be subject to parliamentary control. Ashley Fox MEP has said “(…) To have a diplomatic corps answering to MEPs rather than national governments would be detrimental to Britain's interests."
The MEPs recalled “that all aspects of the funding arrangements for the EEAS must remain under the supervision of the budgetary authority in accordance with the Treaties.” The European Parliament would have its say on the budget to be proposed by the High Representative.
The Lisbon treaty has left a lot of room for interpretation as regards the EEAS field of application. The European Council endorsed the 'single desk' policy meaning the EEAS will be composed of thematic and geographical desks which will carry out the tasks presently undertaken by DG External Relations and the Council Secretariat. According to the report the EEAS would be responsible for all the strategic decisions related to a particular desk but the Commission will continue to be in charge of the management of funding and the implementation of these decisions.
The Commission has exclusive competence over trade negotiations and membership negotiations therefore trade and enlargement will not be integrated into the EEAS as well as development. The relevant commissioners and their directorates-general will remain responsible of enlargement, trade and development policy. However, the high representative will have a say as vice-president of the Commission.
The EU foreign affairs minister will also conduct the European Security and Defence Policy, the crisis management structures and the EU Military Committee consequently these structures will be incorporated into the EEAS. The EEAS would, therefore, manage EU security and defence projects, crisis management, civil and military operations. The service will also incorporated the Situation Centre (SitCen), responsible for providing risk analyses. Hence, it would deal with the sharing of the intelligence analysis.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, the present Commission Delegations will be transformed into "Union delegations." The structure of the EEAS will be, therefore, secured by around 130 delegations of the European Union under the authority of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The EU delegations will take over the role and functions currently undertaken by the rotating Presidency in terms of local coordination and representation of the Union. The Swedish EU Presidency’s report stressed that the “EU delegations should play a supporting role as regards diplomatic and consular protection of Union citizens in third countries.”
The European Parliament has suggested that the Commission delegations in third countries and the Council liaison offices and offices of the EU Special Representatives should be merged to form “"Union embassies", headed by EEAS staff, who would be answerable to the VP/HR.” Furthermore, according to the MEPs, the EU delegations in third countries “could in many cases take over consular services and deal with Schengen visa issues.” According to Europolitcs a diplomat has said that whereas member states will not abolish their embassies, “the intention is, nevertheless, that they will make staff savings because embassies will only focus on national tasks.”
The EEAS will include officials from the Commission and Council secretariat as well as national diplomats from the EU's member states. It could involve over than 6,000 staff. The Member States are calling for at least a third of EEAS staff to be member states’ diplomats.
The MEPs also suggested the creation of a “European diplomatic college” to provide “training based on fully harmonised curricula” to Union officials and officials of the Member States. The European Council has not endorsed such idea but stressed that EEAS staff should be provided with “adequate common training.” As Ashley Fox has said “(…) a dedicated diplomatic college to train an army of EU diplomats is a total unnecessary waste of taxpayers' money.”
The High Representative, as a member of the Commission, will have to go through the European Parliament’s hearings. The European Parliament recommend "that political agreement be reached with Parliament on all issues at an early stage in order to avoid valuable time being wasted on political controversies about the form to be taken by the EEAS after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.” It is important to mention that the European Parliament may reject a commissioner nominated by the Member States by threatening to reject the college as a whole.
The Member States would no longer represent themselves but the Union on the international stage. What will happen to the UK diplomatic representation? Who will defend the interests of the Commonwealth, when the powers of the Foreign Secretaries would be transfer to the High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy?
