Parliament summons 5 new ambassadors to interview them

(BRUSSELS2) (updated) The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs decided today in Strasbourg to hear five of the EU's new ambassadors (1): to China, Japan, in Georgia, Lebanon and Pakistan, as well as the new EU Special Representative in Sudan, Rosalind Marsden, appointed in August (2). The hearing will take place before the Foreign Affairs Committee in October. A hearing that will take place publicly (and not behind closed doors as previously announced); the coordinators of the groups having decided not to retain the format used previously, to hear the new ambassador in Afghanistan (3) and in the United States. This new procedure is the result of a gentleman's agreement concluded between the European Parliament and the High Representative of the EU, within the framework of the new diplomatic service (4).

As the European Parliament cannot hear all the ambassadors either, it has agreed to limit itself to posts "strategically important". Even if these hearings have only a limited value, at the legal level, it would be difficult for the High Representative to validate the appointment of an ambassador if the Parliament expresses a public disavowal. And the Parliament could be decided to impose brand by "heckling" the candidates a little, if not those then at least the following ones. with the appointment of the Barroso I then Barroso II Commission, a quasi-right of challenge, then ratified by the Treaty.

Read also:
(1) The new EU ambassadors. And the nominees are...
(2) Rosalind Marsden appointed in Sudan
(3) Usackas (SpeRep Afghanistan) auditioned in Parliament
(4) The European Parliament sets foot in the door of the Diplomatic Service

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)