Tuesday

5th Dec 2023

Commission still pulls the strings on EU foreign policy

  • Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Ashton. EU ambassador: 'We were told: 'You have the mike, but we have the money'' (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

A new deal between the European Commission and Catherine Ashton sheds light on how much power the EU executive still has on foreign relations.

Coming one year after the launch of her European External Action Service (EEAS), the so-called inter-service agreement - a 40-page paper dated 13 January and seen by EUobserver - details who does what in the EU's day-to-day dealings with foreign countries.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

It says the commission and the EEAS "jointly" plan overall spending strategies on the Union's €9.5-billion-a-year external relations budget.

But development commissioner Andris Piebalgs, neighbourhood commissioner Stefan Fuele and aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva keep full control of designing and implementing actual projects in the 104 countries and the €7.5 billion covered by their portfolios.

"The EEAS shall refrain from taking any measures ... on issues which fall under commission competence," the agreement says.

The commission also has part-control of three crisis management and pro-democracy funds - the so-called EIDHR, IfS and CFSP, worth another €1 billion.

Ashton proposes EIDHR and IfS projects, but then Piebalgs' people take over and draft the final blueprints, while keeping EEAS staff "informed" and inviting them to meetings.

Ashton also proposes CFSP projects, but a commission office - the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments [FPI] - writes the assessment study used by EU countries to decide which ones go forward and writes the final blueprint.

On top of this, commission officials oversee how Ashton spends her €500-million-a-year internal budget.

The service pact says her ambassadors "will be tasked with timely, accurate and reliable reporting to the relevant commission AOD [Authorising Officer by Delegation], according to intervals and format decided on by the commission."

It adds that commission auditors are to be "involved on a permanent and ongoing basis, in virtually all the aspects of the financial administration of the EEAS."

The commission even has power over Ashton's media relations.

Its FPI handles the EEAS press and communications budget. The commission decides if she gets a spot on its internet TV channel - the European Broadcasting Service - and its spokespeople must be told "in a timely manner" if she wants to do a press release.

Meanwhile, Ashton's ambassadors spend much of their time taking instructions from and drafting reports for Piebalgs, Fuele and Georgieva's officials, as well as doing the paperwork on the commissioners' projects in their role as "sub-delegated" accounting officers.

'In the driver's seat'

Ashton spokesman Michael Mann said the inter-service pact does not diminish the EU diplomatic corps' authority.

He said the EEAS is "in the driver's seat" in terms of spending strategies, while the commission does "budget implementation."

He added that "the heads of delegation are in charge of the whole activity of their delegation" and that "in a national embassy it would also be logical for an ambassador to receive instruction from and to give feedback to a line ministry, while keeping the MFA [ministry of foreign affairs] in copy."

An EU head of delegation - who asked to remain anonymous - described the inter-service arrangements as "cumbersome" and "slow," however.

In one example, if the EEAS wants to release up to €20 million in emergency funds the decision must go through Ashton's secretary general, her private office, the FPI, "relevant" commission services and the Political and Security Committee (a group of EU countries' ambassadors).

Mann said the process takes one week.

The head of delegation noted: "It takes about a month and this is supposed to be our fastest instrument."

The contact added that there is a political split between the EEAS, which wants to use development aid to support political goals, and Piebalgs' people, who take a "Biblical" view that aid money should only help the poor.

"We were told: 'You have the mike, but we have the money. You can make statements and say whatever you like, but we control the money' ... I don't mind having so many bosses [taking instructions from various commissioners], but what's important to me is that they act as a team. I don't think they talk to each other," the EU ambassador said.

Ashton chooses €12-million-a-year EU headquarters

The EU's new diplomatic service is to be housed in the so-called Triangle building in the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned in the lobby in December.

Ashton names EU foreign-service priorities at low-key launch event

Relations with the US and China, climate change, poverty eradication, crisis management and counter-terrorism are to be the top priorities of the EU's new diplomatic corps, EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton told her stable of 136 ambassadors at a behind-closed-doors meeting in Brussels.

MEPs to oversee details of Ashton spending

The European Parliament has won the right to look into the nitty gritty of spending in foreign delegations in the EU's new diplomatic service amid mild alarm over rising costs.

Turkey and China host biggest EU outposts

Staff numbers at foreign delegations highlight EU interest in Turkey and China, as well as member states' ongoing reliance on bilateral diplomacy.

Opinion

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Latest News

  1. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  2. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit
  3. Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?
  4. Protecting workers' rights throughout the AI revolution
  5. Russia, the West, and the geopolitical 'touch-move rule'
  6. Afghanistan is a 'forever emergency,' says UN head
  7. EU public procurement reform 'ineffective', find auditors
  8. COP28 warned over-relying on carbon capture costs €27 trillion

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us