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‘State Department’ to tackle diplomacy
22 November 2009
The EU’s decades-old attempts to become a more potent force in world diplomacy will finally begin to take shape next month when the External Action Service (EAS) is launched. The new ‘State Department’ for the EU will take a lead role in all diplomatic contacts between the EU and countries on issues including security and defence, conflicts, troubleshooting, crisis management and human rights issues, once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force on December 1.
The body will be led by former British EU Commissioner Cathy Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in a quasi Secretary of State role.
The EU has long been an important economic bloc and has been a leading player in soft diplomacy. Ashton’s new role and the EAS is an attempt to beef up the EU’s international presence and make it a much stronger player in world affairs.
Ashton will be - in part, at least - an answer to Henry Kissinger’s question: ‘‘who do I call in Europe?’ But the success of the new service, and of Ashton, is far from certain.
Getting agreement from all 27 member states on common approaches to highly-sensitive issues, such as the Iraq war and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and on issues relating to regions where countries like France and Britain have colonial baggage, has traditionally proved almost impossible. Britain and a number of eastern European countries joined the US war in Iraq, while France refused to do so.
Certain member states, including Ireland, will refuse to cooperate in peacekeeping missions that do not have a UN mandate under this state’s triple lock mechanism, while other EU states are full blooded members of Nato.
The EU does not have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, but Britain and France do.
Even with a British woman in the job as high representative, the EU’s efforts to secure agreement on sensitive issues will, in all likelihood, remain extremely fraught. Ashton’s relations with the Obama administration will also be extremely important if the service is to succeed.
Under the plans, the geo-political desks of the European Council will merge with the 134 foreign offices of the European Commission. Diplomats from the 27 member states’ foreign ministries are also to be seconded to the mission to help staff it. The commission will remain as the lead body in charge of trade, development aid and enlargement policy. In time, the EAS is expected to provide consular services for EU citizens and handle common visa, migration and potential asylum claims.
Ministerial discussions on the exact role of the new service are still ongoing, and final decisions on its powers and functions are not expected until April next year. It will be 2012 before the service is fully functioning. Catherine Day, secretarygeneral of the European Commission and the most senior Irish official in Brussels, told The Sunday Business Post that the new service was not trying to replace existing member state embassies.
‘‘We’re trying to create a new European foreign service," Day said. ‘‘Over time, it will take on a consular role and it will be a big benefit to small countries."
The development of the new service would allow states, including Ireland, to significantly slim down their existing - often expensive - diplomatic corps. The Bord Snip Nua report prepared by Colm McCarthy has already recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs reduce its overseas missions from 76 to 55 as part of proposed €42million savings.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is likely to argue, however, that smaller member states, including Ireland, may well find their interests are better served by keeping their own foreign service.
Tom Felle is a PhD researcher at the Centre for European Studies in the University of Limerick
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