EU leaders reach a political agreement on the EU European External Action Service
The General Affairs Council gathered on Monday in Luxembourg under the chair of Spanish Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, reached a political agreement based on the proposal made by the High Representative of the European Union, Catherine Ashton, on the structure of the diplomatic service that will represent European interests world-wide.
The Member States have agreed that geographic and gender balances must be taken into account when naming the heads of the EU delegations, a process in which the European Commission (EC) will take part.
Also, in the near term, one-third of the service personnel will be composed of Member State diplomats, while civil servants from the EC and the EU Council will make up the rest of the staff. The ministers have also reached a compromise on the possibility that Community delegations may offer limited consular services, as long as this does not require additional budget costs.
The document includes the concerns expressed by the different governments and also “many of the European Parliament's worries”, said Moratinos. Parliament asked for power of escrutiny over EU diplomatic service in its meeting of october 2009
According to Moratinos, it is a political agreement with no formal decision will make it easier to points of convergence with the European Parliament and European Commission during the next phases of implementing the service.
The European External Action Service was the focus of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, held after the meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence. The coming into force of this service is one of EU Spanish Presidency priorities.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) is due to be established under the Lisbon Treaty. It will consist of officials from the Commission, Council and Member States and will assist the High Representative for external relations. The Council is to decide how to organise the service on the basis of a proposal from the High Representative after consulting the Parliament and obtaining the consent of the Commission.