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EU Hammers Out Breakthrough Deal on External Action Service

Tuesday, Jun 22, 2010

Representatives of the major European Union institutions have reached an important “political agreement” on the establishing of the European External Action Service.

EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, on behalf of the rotating Presidency, the European Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration, Maros Sefcovic, and three members of the European Parliament stroke the deal in Madrid Monday.

The future EU diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service, was provided for the Lisbon Treaty, and is supposed to become operational by the end of 2010, with a staff of 7000 around the world, including 4 500 diplomats, of which EU High Representative Ashton will be in charge.

‘We are very satisfied with this agreement, as it removes all obstacles’, said the Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, López Garrido, as quoted by diplomatic news site isria.com.

The EEAS was approved by the EU-27 at the end of April, but it still needs the approval of the European Parliament, which wants to have more say in the structure of the future EU diplomatic service, one of the principal new features of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Monday’s agreement is supposed to secure EP’s support for the External Action Service, with a vote on it expected as early as July.

"On the whole, Parliament's requests have been fulfilled," Roberto Gualtieri, one of the EU deputies involved in the negotiations, told the German Press Agency DPA.

In return for its go-ahead, the European Parliament is said to have extracted greater oversight over the EEAS' budget and administration, under terms to be spelled out by Ashton in two "political declarations."

Gualtieri, an Italian socialist, said he and his liberal and conservative counterparts, Guy Verhofstadt and Elmar Brok, would urge the assembly to endorse the deal in a plenary meeting early next month in Strasbourg, France. "I think the agreement deserves a speedy approval," he said.

"This means we can now move forward with the service and have it operational by the autumn," Ashton said in a statement. The European Union needs the External Action Service more than ever," Ashton indicated,” Ashton said in a statement.

Once the Parliament grants approval, the next step will be to assign EU diplomats to some 130 missions around the world, most of which will be existing European Commission representative offices. The future EU diplomatic staff will be comprised of people from the European Commission, the European Council and the twenty-seven member states.

Source: novinite.com