9 EU Special Representative for the Sahel
Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
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Document details | Council Decision extending the mandate of the EU's Special Representative for the Sahel
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Legal base | Articles 31(2) and 33 TEU; QMV
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Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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Document number | (36629),
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
9.1 The Sahel region is defined in this context as Mali, Mauritania
and Niger. The mandate was initiated in 2013. It is based on the
EU's policy objectives, i.e., to contribute actively to regional
and international efforts to achieve lasting peace, security and
development in the region. The EUSR's job involves enhancing the
quality, intensity and impact of the EU's multi-faceted engagement
in the Sahel region, including the EU Strategy for Security
and Development in the Sahel, and to participate in coordinating
all relevant instruments for EU actions. Initial priority was
given to Mali and to the regional dimensions of the conflict there.
The EUSR's specific tasks are detailed in the "Background"
section below.
9.2 A year on, the Minister for Europe (Mr David
Lidington) supported renewal. Mr Reveyrand had performed satisfactorily,
and there was broad consensus that his mandate be extended for
a further 12 months. It had been "tweaked" to reflect
the (broadly positive) political developments in the Sahel since
February 2013 (the signing of the Ouagadougou Accords in June,
the deployment of the UN Mission (MINUSMA) to Mali in July, and
the successful presidential and legislative elections in Mali)
and now included language on the need for the EUSR to push for
further progress on the Malian peace process, and to "keep
a weather eye on Niger and Burkina Faso, which will hold important
elections in 2015-16." Following what the Minister called
a "light-touch "refresh" of the EU's Sahel Strategy
(which in future would also cover Chad and Burkina Faso), a further
(fifth) Policy Advisor would be funded by savings made elsewhere
in the budget. The Minister also noted that the 12-month extension
until February 2015 would bring it into line with the majority
of other EUSR mandates, which were to be renewed "for only
8 months from June 2014 to February 2015".
9.3 The Minister now reports that Mr Reveyrand has
generally performed effectively; after a period of illness, he
resumed an energetic programme in autumn 2014, continuing to travel
widely across the Sahel region and engaging with a wide range
of interlocutors. His annual report was, the Minister says, welcomed
by the PSC,[45] and Member
States are supportive of his continuing in the role. Mr Reveyrand
has continued to chair periodic meetings of a core group of Member
States which have an interest in the Sahel, including the UK.
9.4 With regard to what he describes as a "near-final
draft", the Minister says:
the
proposed mandate for EUSR Sahel is unchanged from 2014-15, and
he believes this gives sufficient latitude for Mr Reveyrand to
adapt his role to evolving events in the Sahel region;
the UK has proposed in Brussels Committee
discussions that Mr Reveyrand should monitor the Mali negotiations
even more closely in future, and report back regularly to Member
States in order that they can formulate their positions accordingly;
Mr Reveyrand's new mandate will be for
a period of eight months rather than a year, in tune with other
EUSRs, and will therefore expire on 31 October 2015;
he understands that the shorter mandates
for all EUSRs have been proposed by the new High Representative/Vice
President (Federica Mogherini) "to allow her to become acquainted
with the individuals and evaluate their roles and performance".
9.5 As noted in the "Background" section
of our Report, the tying-in of most other EUSR mandate renewals
to end-February 2015 reflected a wider tussle between the then
High Representative and the European External Action Service (EEAS),
and Member States, about the future of the EUSR "concept",
resolution of which was postponed until the arrival of the new
HR last November. That seems to have been resolved, though it
is debatable whether an eight-month renewal period, which is bound
to include a summer break, is sufficient to evaluate all EUSR
roles and performance. Moreover, though the Minister provides
this interpretation here, in the case of other EUSRs whose mandate
renewal we consider elsewhere in this Report, he talks of the
eight-month renewal period being "under review".
9.6 In this instance, the draft is not yet final;
and, again, no budgetary information is yet available. In this
instance too, he refers to the late circulation of documents by
the EEAS, which will result in a short gap between the 2013-14
and 2014-15 mandates, though a mechanism exists to allow the EUSR
to continue operating during this period. The questions thus arise:
is this late circulation the result of the EEAS having had to
await the new HR's determination of the wider policy issue, and
then being faced with a lot of work at the last minute? In that
case, the new HR is guilty of not taking sufficient cognisance
of the need for timely parliamentary scrutiny. Or is it, once
again, the EEAS's failure alone?
9.7 In terms of the need for the job and the performance
of the incumbent, no questions arise. We shall, however, continue
to retain the Council Decision under scrutiny, pending clarification
of the final terms of the mandate, the timing issues and the proposed
budget.
Full
details of the documents:
(36629), : Council Decision extending the mandate of
the European Union's Special Representative for the Sahel
Background
9.8 Council Decision 2013/133/CFSP of 18 March 2013
appointed Michel Reveyrand-de Menthon as the new European Union
Special Representative (EUSR) for the Sahel.[46]
The Sahel region is defined as in the EU Strategy for Security
and Development in the Sahel, i.e. Mali, Mauritania and Niger.[47]
Further background is set out in our previous Reports.
9.9 As with the already established EUCAP SAHEL Niger
mission,[48] we shared
the Minister's concern not so much about the case for this additional
EUSR (which was well-made) but about ensuring Value for Money
(VFM). Looking ahead, we said that we expected the salary and
other VFM aspects of the EUSR role to be given full consideration
in the forthcoming EUSR review, which we looked forward to scrutinising
in due course.[49]
9.10 Given that the EUSR Sahel was to have few staff,
a small budget and no executive responsibilities, we found it
difficult to see the justification for an annual remuneration
of a quarter of a million Euros, or for it to be the same as that
of counterparts with palpably bigger responsibilities.
9.11 We trusted that the Minister's officials' engagement
in addressing the salary and other VFM aspects of the EUSR role
would include ways in which the EUSRs' individual performances
could be better measured, given that (as in this instance) their
tasks were defined in such terms that a high "box marking"
was almost guaranteed, and looked forward to hearing more from
the Minister about his approach.[50]
The 2014 Council Decision
9.12 This Council Decision renewed Mr Reveyrand's
mandate for one year, until 28 February 2015. The Minister reported
that Mr Reveyrand had performed satisfactorily, having: played
an important role in the process that facilitated presidential
and legislative elections in Mali; travelled widely in the Sahel-Sahara
region over the last year; and been energetic in building dialogue
with regional and international contacts on the issues facing
the Sahel. EU Member States appreciated his collaborative approach;
agreed that the EUSR could play an important role in helping Sahelian
states to address the wide-ranging challenges affecting the region;
and saw his co-ordinating function as helpful in mobilising the
range of EU instruments available to assist in the region and
coordinating the EU's work with that of other international actors
such as the UN, World Bank, African Union and ECOWAS. Consequently
there was broad consensus that Reveyrand's mandate be extended
for a further 12 months.
9.13 The Minister drew attention to some amendments
to the mandate, in order to reflect the (broadly positive) political
developments in the Sahel since February 2013 (the signing of
the Ouagadougou Accords in June, the deployment of the UN Mission
(MINUSMA) to Mali in July, and the successful presidential and
legislative elections in Mali); the need the EUSR to push for
further progress on the Malian peace process; and the need to
keep a weather eye on Niger and Burkina Faso, which were to hold
important elections in 2015-16. Also, following the "light-touch
'refresh'" of the EU's Sahel Strategy (which in future would
also cover Chad and Burkina Faso), the EUSR had proposed to expand
his team to include a further (fifth) POLAD (Policy Advisor) who
would be based in Brussels, and which (after resistance from the
UK and others) would not involve any financial increase. All in
all, the Minister was content with the outcome.
9.14 The Minister also noted that the extension of
Mr Reveyrand's mandate until February 2015 would bring it into
line with the majority of other EUSR mandates, which were also
to be renewed, but only for only eight months from June 2014.
This touched on the general issues the review of current
guidelines on EUSRs and the apparent tussle between the HR and
Member States over their future that the Committee raised
in a separate chapter of the same Report, on the (former) EUSR
to the Middle East Peace Process and the then recent resignations
of the EUSRs to the South Caucasus and Georgia and to Central
Asia.[51]
9.15 So far as this mandate extension was concerned,
however, no questions arose. We therefore cleared this Council
Decision from scrutiny.[52]
The draft Council Decision
9.16 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 2 February
2015, the Minister says that this "near-final draft"
proposes that Mr Reveyrand's mandate be renewed once again, on
this occasion for a further eight months; that a draft Budget
Impact Statement for the new mandate has not yet been circulated,
"but we expect this soon"; and that he supports the
renewal of Mr Reveyrand's mandate.
The Government's view
9.17 The Minister continues his comments as follows:
"Despite a period of illness which restricted
his activity in 2014, Mr Reveyrand has generally performed effectively
in the EUSR role in 2014-15. Once recovered from his illness,
Mr Reveyrand resumed an energetic programme in autumn 2014. This
was timely given the commencement of the Mali peace negotiations
in Algiers, and that Mr Reveyrand is the EU's eyes and ears, and
instrument of influence on that process.
"Mr Reveyrand has continued to travel widely
across the Sahel region, engaging with a wide range of interlocutors.
His annual report was welcomed by the PSC, and Member States are
supportive of his continuing in the role. Mr Reveyrand has continued
to chair periodic meetings of a core group of Member States which
have an interest in the Sahel, including the UK. The UK has offered
to host the next of these gatherings in London in March 2015.
The UK's Special Representative to the EU [sic], the Rt Hon Stephen
O'Brien MP,[53] will
act as principal host."
9.18 With regard to the "near-final draft",
the Minister says:
"The proposed mandate for EUSR Sahel is unchanged
from 2014-15, and we believe this gives sufficient latitude for
Mr Reveyrand to adapt his role to evolving events in the Sahel
region. The UK has proposed in Brussels Committee discussions
that Mr Reveyrand should monitor the Mali negotiations even more
closely in future, and report back regularly to Member States
in order that they can formulate their positions accordingly.
"Mr Reveyrand's new mandate will be for a period
of eight months rather than a year, in tune with other EUSRs.
It will therefore expire on 31 October 2015. We understand that
the shorter mandates for all EUSRs have been proposed by the new
High Representative/Vice President (Federica Mogherini) to allow
her to become acquainted with the individuals and evaluate their
roles and performance."
9.19 Finally, on the Financial Implications, the
Minister says:
"We have not yet seen a budget for the new mandate.
It is expected to be circulated to Member States soon, and we
will provide an update to the Committees once it arrives. The
late circulation of documents by the EEAS will result in a short
gap between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 mandates, though a mechanism
exists to allow the EUSR to continue operating during this period.
"The PSC is expected to instruct COAFR to discuss
and agree the mandate and budget during the week beginning 2 February.
RELEX will consider the budget during the week of 9 February 2015.
It is hoped that the Council will clear the new mandate and budget
during the week of 2 March 2015.
"Given that there will be a gap between mandates,
a retroactivity clause will allow the EUSR to continue his work
during this period, using funds that remain unspent under the
2014-15 mandate."
Previous Committee Reports
None, but see (35800), : Thirty-seventh Report
HC 83-xxxiv (2013-14), chapter 21 (26 February 2014).
45 Political and Security Committee: the committee
of ambassador-level officials from national delegations who, by
virtue of article 38 TEU, under the authority of the High Representative
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR) and the Council,
monitor the international situation in areas covered by the CFSP
and exercise political control and strategic direction of crisis
management operations, as set out in article 43 TEU. The chair
is nominated by the HR. Back
46
EUSRs promote the EU's policies and interests in troubled regions
and countries and play an active role in efforts to consolidate
peace, stability and the rule of law. They support the work of
the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy (HR), in the regions concerned, and provide the EU with
an active political presence in key countries and regions, acting
as a "voice" and "face" for the EU and its
policies. See http://eeas.europa.eu/policies/eu-special-representatives/index_en.htm
for full details. Back
47
The EU Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel has
four key themes:
· that security and development
in the Sahel cannot be separated, and that helping these countries
achieve security is integral to enabling their economies to grow
and poverty to be reduced;
· that achieving security and development
in the Sahel is only possible through closer regional cooperation.
This is currently weaker than it needs to be, and the EU has a
potential role to play in supporting it;
· all the states of the region
will benefit from considerable capacity-building, both in areas
of core government activity, including the provision of security
and development cooperation; and
· that the EU therefore has an
important role to play both in encouraging economic development
for the people of the Sahel and helping them achieve a more secure
environment in which it can take place, and in which the interests
of EU citizens are also protected.
See http://eeas.europa.eu/africa/docs/sahel_strategy_en.pdf
for full information. Back
48
EUCAP SAHEL Niger is designed to build the capacity of
Nigerien security forces to fight terrorism and organised crime.
With a first year budget of 8,700,000, a 24-month mandate
and, at full operational capability, up to 78 people, the aim
of the mission is to enable the Nigerien authorities to implement
the security dimension of their Strategy for Security and Development,
as well as improving regional coordination in tackling common
security threats and contributing to the development of an integrated,
sustainable, and human rights-based approach to the fight against
terrorism and organised crime. Back
49
See Thirty-third Report HC 86-xxxiii (2012-13), chapter 13 (27
February 2013) for the full background. Back
50
See (34702), -: Thirty-fourth Report HC 86-xxxiv (2012-13), chapter 11
(6 March 2013) for the Minister's response. Back
51
See (35701), -: Thirty-seventh Report HC 83-xxxiv (2013-13) chapter 19
(26 February 2014). Back
52
See (35800), -: Thirty-seventh Report HC 83-xxxiv (2013-14),
chapter 21 (26 February 2014). Back
53
Mr O'Brien was appointed Special Representative for the Sahel
at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 26 September 2012. He
previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
International Development from May 2010 to September 2012. Back
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