Her first task will be to submit a proposal on how she envisions the EEAS, given that what has been talked about so far is really rather vague and needs a lot of meat put on the bones. Her ideas, which first and foremost need to include a mission statement defining the EEAS’s functions, will be submitted to the EU Council for discussion in April. Indeed it will be one of her first big challenges, so she needs to come up with something good to give her baptism into EU foreign policy a fantastic start.Although the European Parliament is not officially a deciding voice -- it is only to be consulted on the EEAS proposal -- members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are expected to have an influential voice. At Ashton’s parliamentary hearing in January, the parliament will press her to accept the demands contained in its October 2009resolution. The parliament will also have an important role in decisions on financial arrangements for the EEAS. One thing all member states have already agreed on is that the EEAS should be funded from the seemingly bottomless EU budget, including giving “top ups” to supplement the cost of personnel coming from the poorer countries in Eastern Europe.
After being talked up for such a long time, there is now a lot of expectation over what the EEAS will achieve. In short, it is supposed to make the EU more streamlined and effective in meeting existing commitments such as responding to global threats and challenges, including conflict prevention and peace building, in a more coherent manner.
Even though the EEAS is very much Ashton’s responsibility, it will not stop every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to contribute their ideas over the coming months and a lot of intense negotiations between the European Commission, the council and member states over the organization and structures of the new service, including financial arrangements, the recruitment of personnel and so on, are to be expected. Thousands of new jobs will be created, and in the future, people wishing to make a career in foreign affairs will be able to work in both national diplomacy (in a foreign ministry or an embassy abroad) and in the European service (in Brussels or an EU delegation in a non-EU country). One-third of the staff will come from member states, with an adequate gender and geographical balance. This new framework should give the new generation of diplomats a better understanding of the practical realities of European and national action and develop a professional culture in which the terms national and European no longer imply antinomy but synergy. This will be a great improvement on the situation nowadays where there is frequently a considerable lack of knowledge from both EU diplomats serving in EU delegations abroad as well as those in Brussels on the countries and regions they cover.
In particular, the EEAS will put an end to the duplication of work in the commission and the council, as instead of having two sets of desk officers for various countries, there will only be one port of call. The only difference will be for those countries that are either negotiating membership -- such as Turkey -- or those that have a clear membership perspective -- such as the countries of the western Balkans -- which will remain in the commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement.
Clearly there is a lot of work to do, and for the time being, everything seems a little bit messy and vague. It is therefore imperative that Ashton really puts together a dazzling package to deliver in April because after all the hype surrounding the initiative and its ambitious long-term goals, it really needs to get off to a great start and produce results quickly, making it an EU initiative that really makes a difference, which is not always the case.
