Ad
First EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana (l) with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2003 (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

Interview

2010: EU's new diplomacy in search of old élan?

The EU foreign service has changed from a man with a phone to "a very large ship" in the past 10 years, for Pierre Vimont - one of its quintessential insiders.

But EU diplomacy needs to rediscover its former élan, Vimont said.

Back in 2009, the EU foreign service more-or-less amounted to Javier Solana, a veteran Spanish diplomat, and Vimont was France's ambassador to the US.

But in 2010, the EU launched the European External Action Service (EEAS) to "assist" its "high repr...

Get EU news that matters

Back our independent journalism by becoming a supporting member

Already a member? Login here

Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

First EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana (l) with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2003 (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

Tags

Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

Ad

Related articles

Ad
Ad