European External Action Service Takes Shape

Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty at the beginning of the year, the European institutions have been adjusting to the new framework and taking steps to make the necessary changes. One of the new elements to have been introduced by the Treaty is the establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS), which is under the control of the High Representative Catherine Ashton.

Mrs Ashton submitted a proposal for the EEAS on the 25th March 2010 and since then, Brussels has been full of discussion about what the proposal means in practice. The main points of the proposal that are interesting to the development community are the suggestions that the EEAS should contribute to the programming and management of external cooperation programmes that fall under development policy.

A challenge has come from CONCORD and some of its members however based on legal grounds. They assert that the proposal actually breaches the Lisbon Treaty and goes against the interests of both the EU and the world’s poorest.

First of all the lawyers say that the role of EEAS is restricted to the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which is just a part of the EU’s external action. This does not extend to development policy, which is the ‘sole competence’ of the European Commission, as defined by the treaties.

Secondly, poverty reduction is the main objective of development policy and this is being threatened if it is put under the EEAS, which risks pursuing purely European interests.
Despite these objections, Ashton’s proposal was accepted by the Council at the end of April. It now has to pass through the European Parliament.

The TRIALOG central training, which was postponed due to the Icelandic volcano eruption in April and moved to 7-8 June, will look at how our work as CSOs has been affected by the institutional changes that result from the Lisbon Treaty (see Events).

Related links: The Ashton Proposal for a Council Decision on the EEAS: http://eeas.europa.eu/docs/eeas_draft_decision_250310_en.pdf
CONCORD and partners’ media statement on the illegality of the Ashton proposal: http://www.concordeurope.org/Files/media/0_internetdocumentsENG/5_Press/1_Press_releases/5_Press_releases_2010/MEDIA-STATEMENT-on-EEAS--26-04-2010---EN.pdf

Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG