Policy Forum “The role and achievements of EU Special Representatives in EU foreign policy” Friday, 15 June 2012, 11.40h – 14.00h Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Since 1996, the Council of the EU has deployed over 40 EU Special Representatives (EUSRs) to various crisis regions where they are involved in the European Union’s conflict resolution efforts. They also contribute to the formulation of the EU’s policies, to the coordination of EU actors 'on the ground' and to the EU’s cooperation with other international actors in the field.

While Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, initially intended to phase out the EUSRs, new officeholders have been appointed in 2011 and 2012. This demonstrates the added value of the EUSRs as a rather flexible tool in EU foreign policy.

The Policy Forum focuses on the role and the achievements of the EUSRs in the implementation of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy in the past sixteen years. It looks at their contribution to conflict resolution, their interplay with other diplomats, their institutional setting within the External Action Service and their relations with the European Commission and the EU delegations. Speakers and discussants include acting and former EUSRs and officials from the External Action Service:

§ Ambassador Philippe Lefort (EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia) § Ambassador Pieter Feith (International Civilian Representative in and former EU Special Representative in Kosovo) § Ms Maria Fihl (Policy Officer to the European External Action Service, Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability) § Ms Tatiana Levceva (Political Adviser to the EU Special Representative for Central Asia, European External Action Service) § Mr Fredrik Wesslau (Political Advisor to the EU Special Representative for and South Sudan, European External Action Service) § Moderator: Mr Dominik Tolksdorf (Senior associate researcher, Institute for European Studies) Information on the speakers

Pieter Feith is senior Dutch diplomat and currently the International Civilian Representative for Kosovo and head of the International Civilian Office, which is to oversee and assist Kosovo in developing as a modern, multi-ethnic democracy with an open market economy. In his function as EU Special Representative in Kosovo between 2008 and 2011, Feith was mandated to provide EU advice and to promote overall political coordination in Kosovo. Between 2007 and 2008, he acted as the Civilian Operations Commander for all civilian CSDP crisis management operations and as acting director of the EU Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability. In 2005 and 2006, he was head of the EU-led Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) in Indonesia and head of the EU Expert Team for .

Philippe Lefort is senior French diplomat and was appointed in September 2011 as EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia. His mandate is based on the policy objectives of the Union for the South Caucasus. Those objectives include, in accordance with the existing mechanisms, including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Minsk Group, to prevent conflicts in the region and to contribute to a peaceful settlement of conflicts in the region, including the crisis in Georgia and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Lefort was previously head of the Continental Europe General Directorate in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Counsellor at the French Embassy in Russia (2007- 2010) and French Ambassador in Georgia (2004-2007).