SUMMARY
The 2009 Lisbon Treaty created the European External
Action Service (EEAS) to support the work of the newly created
post of High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission (HR/VP).
This report assesses developments in the two years since the formal
launch of the EEAS in January 2011, and makes recommendations
which are intended to contribute to the HR/VP's review of the
Service in mid-2013.
In their first two years, the HR/VP and the EEAS
understandably focussed on establishing the Service, and uniting
the different elements of the EU's external policies (the Common
Foreign and Security Policy and the external relations activities
which remained with the Commission, such as trade and development).
They also had to bring together staff from the Commission, the
Council and the diplomatic services of the 27 Member States. At
the same time, the EEAS encountered uncertainties about what Member
States wanted it to do, and was faced with the immediate challenge
of the Arab Spring.
The EEAS has been successful in a number of areas,
notably in the development of a "comprehensive approach"
to certain countries and regions, such as the Horn of Africa and
the Sahel, where it brought together all the instruments available
to the EU. The HR/VP, with the EEAS, also established a leading
position in the negotiations with Iran, calmed the relations between
Serbia and Kosovo and brought Member States to agreement on sanctions
on Syria. There have also been advantages in the continuity created,
compared with the previous system under which the Member State
holding the rotating presidency of the Council played a key role.
However, we found remaining challenges, including
the need to overcome the difficulties in the relations between
the EEAS and the Commission. We recommend more rigorous use of
the Vice-Presidency role of the HR/VP to enhance coherence, and
working towards unified reporting structures for both budgets
and personnel. The EEAS should also make every effort to find
and build common ground to enable Member States to agree united
positions as, despite agreement on most foreign policy areas,
Member States are not united on some key issues. Thus far, the
EEAS appears to have brought no significant benefit to the EU's
handling of trade and development issues. Another area where improvement
is still needed is crisis management.
Despite its efforts, the EEAS has not managed to
deliver budget neutrality, but we consider that this should now
be obtainable. The EEAS should look particularly at prioritising
its work more effectively. The location of EEAS delegations should
also be considered, to establish whether they support the EU's
priorities, whether they are needed in their current format and
strength, or whether alternative arrangements could be made to
achieve savings and avoid duplication. This could involve co-location
with Member State missions and sharing services. Consideration
should also be given to reducing the salaries of officials at
the higher end of the scale. The review should also consider the
wish of some Member States for the delegations to perform a consular
role; if this is decided, those states should pay individually
or collectively for this service.
We believe that the UK Government should look anew,
and constructively, at ways in which the EEAS could be used to
its advantage in terms of saving costs or increasing influence.
We consider that it is also in their interests that high quality
UK diplomats should work in the EEAS, and be assured that they
will not be disadvantaged when they return to their UK careers.
Overall, we consider that, in the long term, there
is much to be gained by better use of Europe's diplomatic resources
globally, whether based around collections of Member States or
the EEAS. The EEAS should promptly correct the remaining organisational
problems so that its systems run smoothly. Having done this, the
Service should focus on delivering results.
Member States should clarify what they want the EEAS
to do. The HR/VP's review should help the Service to add value
to the effectiveness of EU external polices through the use of
diplomatic skills and knowledge in traditional Commission tasks.
This should include improved collection, use and dissemination
of political intelligence; better coordination of the use of the
EU's different instruments within a particular region; and using
the combined leverage of the EU to the advantage of all 27 Member
States.
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