EU FOREIGN policy chief Catherine Ashton says the union’s diplomatic service should start its work next autumn after she struck a deal with leading MEPs on the structure of the new organisation.
The agreement on the nascent European External Action Service (EAS) with representatives from the centre-right, socialist and liberal political groups foresees a European Parliament vote next month to facilitate the establishment of the new body.
Baroness Ashton has been trying for months to establish common ground between EU governments, the European Commission and MEPs on the shape and powers of the EAS, which aims to give Europe a stronger voice in global affairs.
The deal came at a negotiation in Madrid yesterday, the sixth such round of talks with the parliament on the EAS since April. Although EU foreign ministers must still give the final go-ahead after the parliament votes, Baroness Ashton signalled that a key hurdle had been crossed.
“This means we can now move forward with the service and have it operational by the autumn,” she said.
“We should not underestimate how important today’s decision is and I hope now that the European Parliament endorses its commitment to this agreement with a full cross-party vote in the plenary, hopefully in July, to allow us to move forward with setting up a service which EU citizens deserve.”
At issue yesterday was the question of who will deputise for the foreign policy chief and how the EAS budget will be managed.
The deal allows EU Commissioners to speak in the parliament on behalf of Baroness Ashton, according to their mandate. The foreign minister of the country that holds the rotating presidency of the EU can also speak for her.
The EAS budget will be disbursed on a “quasi-autonomous” basis, said sources briefed on the deal.
Although Baroness Ashton reached agreement with the European Commission last March on the structure of the EAS, the plan was immediately rejected as “unacceptable” by a cross-party alliance of all the main political groups in the Parliament.
This manoeuvre, which caused anger in diplomatic circles, was seen as a show of strength to reflect MEPs’ leverage over the EAS, as they have power to veto its budget and staffing arrangements.
“The participants agreed that they have now to work constructively for the solution of the remaining questions in particular the adoption of the financial regulation and the staff regulations,” said a communique issued after the talks.
