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Ref. Ares(2015)1104480 - 12/03/2015

FEDERICA MOGHERINI HIGH REPRESENTATIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE

Brussels, ^ 2 HARS 2015 A12015)42404-62963

H.H. Mr Minister of Foreign Affairs of H.E. Mr Edgars Rinkevics Minister of Foreign Affairs of H.E. Mr Jean Asselbom Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg

I would like to thank you for your letter dated 29 December 2014, in which you raised the important issue of improved EU coordination in The Hague. Indeed, the European External Action Service was specifically created to ensure the efficiency, coherence, continuity and visibility of the EU policies and action. The role of the 139 delegations (of which 8 are accredited to international organisations) consists in carrying out these tasks with the view to enhancing the impact of these policies in foreign policy and security matters in close cooperation with the Member States.

I would like to express my gratitude to the previous rotating Presidencies, notably . Greece and Italy, that have offered office space to the EEAS delegate. I am also very grateful for the offer from the current and future rotating Presidencies, notably Latvia and Luxembourg, to provisionally host the EEAS delegate during 2015.

I fully acknowledge the importance of The Hague as host of several important International Organizations relevant to the EU foreign policy priorities. In this vein, I have decided that we should indeed upgrade the EEAS presence in The Hague. However, due to budgetary constraints it is not possible, at this time, to envisage setting up a fully-fledged EU Delegation However, building on the positive experience of the semi-permanent presence, especially during the current Syrian chemical weapons operation, we will ensure the further strengthening of the EEAS presence by deploying an official to work in The Hague on a permanent basis. It is our intention to base this official in the Commission Representation office. This will enable an EEAS delegate to participate in all important meetings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). We will also start looking into the possibility of covering the work of the other resident International Organizations in the future.

Yours sincerely.

Federica Mogherini

EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Θ-1049 - TELEPHONE 3? 2 P95 43 71 FAX 3? 2 247 74 2Ö