EEAS should be streamlined, review says
In bid to make diplomatic service less expensive and less top-heavy, a mid-term review recommends cuts.
The European External Action Service should have fewer departments and top managers, according to a mid-term review published today (29 July).
The review was called for when the diplomatic service was launched early in 2011 and has been carried out by the EEAS with input from the member states, the European Commission and others.
The report makes a number of recommendations on how to slim down the service in a bid to make it less expensive and less cumbersome.
Instead of two top managers – an executive secretary-general and a chief operating officer – the service should have a single secretary-general, the report recommends. The report says that the recommendation is supported by the current holders of those jobs, Pierre Vimont and David O’Sullivan.
The two deputy secretary-general posts (held by Helga Schmid and Maciei Popowksi) should remain in place, the report says.
The report also says that the number of policy departments should be reduced from eight. It attributes the current set-up to the need to provide senior posts for officials transferred from the member states during the start-up phase. Officials at the level of director – one level below the managing directors – should be given more responsibilities, it says.
The report recommends the full integration of EU special representatives, of whom there are currently 12, into the EEAS. The transfer of their staff (around 200 posts) into the EEAS structure would result in savings for the EU, the report says.
The report says that the service will require additional embassies in places where the EU is not represented. It also suggests that some embassies could be downgraded and led by a chargé d’affaires rather than an ambassador, and that “innovative approaches to burden-sharing and resource allocation” with national embassies should be sought.
The report suggests that the role of the high representative for foreign and security policy also needs a re-think. One way of doing this would be by creating one or several posts of deputy high representative and by allowing senior officials to stand in for the high representative in European Parliament plenary debates. The report suggests that this change should take place when a new European Commission takes office next year.
In her preface to the report, Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, writes: “I am proud of what we have achieved so far. With the support of Member States in the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, the EEAS has developed into a modern and operational foreign policy service, equipped to promote EU interests and values in our relations with the rest of the world.”
Ashton announced earlier this year that she would not be seeking a second term in office.
Click here to read European Voice’s series of articles on the future of the EEAS
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