News BlogEEAS High Representative

Van Rompuy is considering developing his own diplomatic service

Photo credit: Council of the EU

(BRUXELLES2) But what stung Herman Van Rompuy? A few days before the informal summit of Heads of State and Government devoted to Europe's place in the world, the (permanent) President of the European Council seems to have decided to set up a "small" service, responsible for carrying out external relations for its own account. Small, finally, if you want... It will not actually be a few advisers who, as usual, in a political cabinet are responsible for dealing with diplomatic relations (1). But, indeed, a service in its own right, within the General Secretariat of the Council, with around twenty administrators and appropriate staff, headed by a Director General.

Official reason given by the Council: to ensure the logistics and preparation of the various working groups which continue to work in the field of external relations, without being within the scope of the High Representative (Trade, etc.). Unofficial reason by some connoisseurs: to allow the Council to keep certain powers within it, while the main staff of the Council's DG E (external relations) must join the new European External Action Service, by the end of December (some services are already working on it). Origin of the confusion will explain the lawyers: the Treaty of Lisbon entrusts both the High Representative and the President of the European Council with the task of representing the European Union abroad. Whatever the (good) reasons invoked, the impression remains that this creation will make the new organization of the EU's external relations a little more complicated.

While the European external service does not yet really exist, it has the delicate task of ensuring the merger between the services of the European Commission, on the one hand (DG Relex, Delegations, etc.), the secretariat of the Council, on the other (DG E...); on the other side of the street, we hasten to recreate a new embryo of service. A little absurd... No! And above all, quite inconsequential in times of budgetary scarcity, where each item is counted...

However, the interest of the new diplomatic service - the greatest interest will say the connoisseurs - is to ensure a common analysis of the different European structures. EEAS diplomats thus deliver their analysis both to their head, the High Representative, and to the President of the Commission or of the Council. This ensures (from below) a certain homogeneity of the positions of the European Union.

(1) In the Van Rompuy cabinet, the external relations unit is made up of 4 people, including the Hungarian Zoltán Martinusz (former ambassador to NATO and former "Balkans" director of the EU Council) who coordinates the diplomatic action.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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