The European External Action Service

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The European External Action Service By Charles Grant

This article was submitted as evidence by the Centre for European Reform for the review of the balance of competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union (Foreign Policy) The European External Action Service (EEAS) is, potentially, a very useful tool for enhancing British influence in the EU and in the world. The potential downsides for the UK are relatively limited: Britain has to pay a share of its administrative budget; some good FCO officials are seconded to the service, and thus lost to the UK for a while; and there is a risk that the EEAS will be so badly managed that it will do or say things that embarrass the EU, or indeed the UK. The downsides are limited because EU foreign policy is decided by unanimity. The Union and its EEAS cannot announce a policy or pursue an action that the UK disagrees with. The UK can block whatever it wants to block. The potential upsides of the EEAS are considerable. It brings together the external relations parts of the Commission, and the departments of the Council of Ministers dealing with foreign policy, which used to be separate organisations and often pursued different policies. The EEAS adds in a sprinkling of seconded national diplomats, to boost its expertise. The EEAS should enable the EU to run truly joined-up foreign policies. The EU’s various instruments – military and policing operations, aid policies, trade policies, visa policies, energy policies and foreign policies – have often been unco-ordinated and at cross purposes, for example in Bosnia, for much of the last decade. In theory, the post of High Representative/Vice President (HR/VP) – based in both the EEAS and the Commission – should enable the various external policies to be co-ordinated. The existence of the EEAS – which, through the secondees, has close links to national foreign ministries – should encourage common analyses of problems. The EEAS delegations bring together people from national embassies in, say, Beijing, to share information and draft common papers on what is happening. These reports feed into the EEAS in Brussels, where there is more expertise than in the old days of a separate Commission and Council Secretariat. The best analysis goes up to meetings of senior national officials and foreign ministers; in the long run, common analyses should encourage common policy. This system has particular potential benefits for the UK. As one of the ‘big three’, with a global foreign policy

and great expertise on many parts of the world, the UK is naturally an influential player in the EEAS. Most small countries do not have policies or strong views on most parts of the world. The British – like the French and the Germans – can use the EEAS to mould the views of smaller member-states and educate them in the realities of foreign policy. Many EEAS officials and smaller member-states look to the big three to give a lead on EU foreign policy. They know that – as the CER has always argued – the EEAS can only work well if the big three engage in it, rather than seeing it as a rival. Most small countries reckon that the EEAS can save them money: if they rely on it to represent their interests in many corners of the world, they can make savings in their own diplomatic services. The British would not want to do that, but should see the EEAS as a useful supplement to their own policy-making – and as a vehicle for promoting British interests. The EEAS has already had some successes. Catherine Ashton and her officials have been mediating between Serbia and Kosovo and have achieved useful results. In Burma, the EEAS – working closely with the British – has helped to persuade the regime to embrace reform (the EU was able to lift sanctions much sooner than the Americans). Another success story is Somalia, where an able EU Special Representative – Alex Rondos – has co-ordinated the EU naval operation against pirates, the training of African Union peacekeepers by the EU, the efforts to build up local naval forces in the region, and the rule of law mission that has improved the courts in several neighbouring countries.

The European External Action Service March 2013

info@cer.org.uk | WWW.CER.ORG.UK

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