Appointment of Lithuanian Usackas in Afghanistan confirmed. decision

(BRUSSELS2) The Council of EU Foreign Ministers will on Monday confirm the appointment of a new EU Special Representative in Afghanistan. This is the Lithuanian Vygaudas Usackas. This name had been acquired during the last Council which had preferred it in particular to the current holder of the position, the Italian Sequi. The Lithuanian has, indeed, an advantage: to have the full confidence of the American allies.

Taking office. The EU Special Representative (EUSR) will take office on 1 April. His mandate runs until August 31, 2010, like the other special representatives (1). But it may be modified when the European External Action Service comes into force. Eventually, he will thus have under his orders the delegation of the European Commission (led by Hansjörg Kretschmer). This will finally make it possible to have the "single European representation" so much desired in the past (2). This meant that there were no longer three representatives of the EU as in the past, but one. It should be noted that since 1 January, the EC "embassy" in Afghanistan has already taken on the role of EU representative. This country is one of the first "embassies" where Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, has already ceded its role to the EU (3).

General coordination role. The EUSR has a primary function of " general policy coordination of the instruments of the Union so that they are used consistently ". Its activities must therefore be coordinated with those of the Commission, the EUSR for Central Asia and the EU representation in Pakistan. It also has a special role with regard to the EU police mission (EUPOL Afghanistan) for which it formulates political orientations ». “The EUSR and the civilian operation commander consult each other, if necessary. »

Be present and inform. The Special Representative also has several roles: 1) supporting the position of the EU in the political process and development in Afghanistan; 2) therefore maintain close contact with Afghan institutions (government, parliament, local authorities), as well as 3) with international actors (particularly the UN special representative and the NATO civilian representative); 4) report on progress made in the area of ​​the EU action plan for Afghanistan. NB: The EUSR has a budget for these 5 months of 2,5 million euros.

Staff safety: paramount. Given the environment in Afghanistan, the EUSR has a particular security role. He must therefore establish a specific security plan of the mission, including physical security measures within the mission and for travel. staff should be covered by “high risk” insurance”. He must also ensure that all members of the team deployed in the field or in Kabul have followed a " appropriate security training, before or upon arrival in the mission area ».

To read the draft decision, download here

Born in 1963, Usackas joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. Counselor at the Lithuanian mission to the EC and NATO from 1992 to 1996, he became political director at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs then Deputy Minister (1999). In 2000 and 2001, he was chief negotiator for Lithuania's accession to the EU, then was appointed ambassador to the United States (2002), to Mexico and then to the United Kingdom (2006). He returned to Lithuania as Minister of Foreign Affairs (December 2008). But he had to resign from this position in January 2010, following disagreements with President Grybauskaite (former European Commissioner) in particular after the revelations of the installation of a secret place of detention of the CIA in Lithuania (the Americans benefited from the assistance of certain Lithuanian services).

(1) EU Special Representatives confirmed, provisionally
(2) The 27 decided so in September 2009. Europe will have a single representation in Afghanistan. It was time !
(3) 54 "EU ambassadors" received their mission order