ANALYSIS ON THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND SUPRANATIONAL CONSTRICTIONS ON THE EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE Alessandro Manghisi N°3/2011 ANALYSIS ON THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND SUPRANATIONAL CONSTRICTIONS ON THE EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE Supervisor: Prof. Luigi Moccia Thesis presented by Alessandro Manghisi Academic Year 2010-11 ii CENTRO ALTIERO SPINELLI Working Papers N°1 - 2010 Via G. Chiabrera 199 00149 Roma Tel. +39.06.5733.5212 Fax: +39.60.5733.xxxx www.centrospinelli.eu [email protected] ©2010 Simonetta Stabile EAS 11/08/2011 Centro Altiero Spinelli iii Statutory Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been written by myself without any external unauthorized help, that it has been neither presented to any institution for evaluation or previously published in its entirety or in parts. Any parts, words or ideas, of the thesis, however limited, and including tables, graphs, maps etc., which are quoted from or based on other sources, have been acknowledged as such without exception. <15,466> (including references and abstract) iv Abstract In the first period of the 2000s every commentator noticed and discussed the lack of consistency and coherence in the limited external actorness of the EU. Thus the Convention for the Future of Europe introduced its initiative to create a European service to enhance the aspects of coherence and consistency in the external action. This proposal followed the demand of the Laeken Declaration of greater coherence in the European external relations. The Convention introduced the idea of an External Action Council (in the future the Foreign Affairs Council), the institution of a “one joint service” and of a European Diplomatic Academia. After the failure of the Constitution that followed, the European Council called for a new version of the Treaty, it will later become the Lisbon Treaty. The intergovernmental conference held in Lisbon on 18th-19th October 2007 was an attempt to increase the external capabilities of the European Union through the introduction of several changes: the institution of a permanent President of the European Council, the reinforcement of the figure of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), the establishment of the European External Action Service (EAS) and the new role of the European Parliament in the conclusion of international agreements. Even if the European External Action Service was founded in the Summer of 2010, actually the development of a network of Delegations followed the European process of integration from the beginning. The new European diplomatic service was founded as a sui generis organ (Art. 15 and 27 TEU). According to the original design of the intergovernmental conference the new service shall assist the High Representative and the European Union, and in the meantime it shall be more self-reliant than the classic Commission General Directorates (DG) and the Committee of the European Council (EC). A symbol of this autonomy is the EAS Headquarter situated in the Triangle building between the Belaymont and the Justus Lipsius. According to the intent of the Lisbon Treaty the new service should work as a “bridge” or an “arch” between the Council and the Commission, integrating their Directorates that operate in the international system. Thus the EAS will be composed 1/3 of European Commission officials, 1/3 staff from the Council and 1/3 diplomats from the national ministries of foreign affairs. Furthermore the service could employ Specialized Seconded National Experts (SNEs) in particular circumstances. Although the necessity to enhance the external coherence of the European Union is commonly acknowledged, the national governments and the European Commission still hold strong grips on many EU external competences. The Commission and the Council are the v main actors in the decision-making process of issues such as security in the European neighborhood and relations with the new trade partners (e.g. the BRICS countries). Concerning security issues, European international security affairs are still an inter- governmental matter. This dissertation will first analyze the historical evolution of the European Diplomatic Service, thence it will discuss the incongruity deriving from the exclusion from the EAS of a significant policy, as the external aspects of Common Commercial Policy (CCP). Finally it will analyze the present organizational issues in the planning of European operations affecting external security. In my opinion the actual External Action Service is still a constrained body between the intergovernmental (the Member States) and the supranational (the Commission) powers. In fact I believe that some Directorates of the Commission (in particular DG Trade) by preserving their competences in significant external matters (e.g. commercial issues), prevent the development of the EAS. I thank Mr. Mikko Huttunen, First Counselor and Legal Officer in the EU Mission to the WTO. In the course of the preparation of a paper for the College of Europe, Mr. Huttunen kindly answered my questions regarding the role of the EAS in the Genève Mission with a focus in the field of trade. vi Keywords European Union European External Action Service Actorness Coherence and Consistency Common Foreign and Security Policy National Diplomatic Services External Security vii Table of Contents Statutory Declaration............................................................................................................iv Abstract ...................................................................................................................................v Keywords...............................................................................................................................vii List of Annexes........................................................................................................................x List of Abbreviations.............................................................................................................xi 1 Historical Evolution......................................................................................................12 1.2 The beginning: ......................................................................................................13 1.3 The effects of the Convention of Lomé on the representation of the European Communities:....................................................................................................................14 1.4 The new “Annex X” to the Staff Regulations: ...................................................16 1.5 Fall of the Wall. A further phase of expansion:.................................................17 1.6 The jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice: ......................................19 1.7 Before the new wave:............................................................................................21 1.8 The Constitution of the European Union and the Lisbon Treaty....................22 Conclusion of the Chapter:..............................................................................................24 2 The European External Action Service, the European Commission and the conflict of competences:.....................................................................................................................26 2.1.1 The Head of the EAS: .......................................................................................27 2.2 The Decision of the Council of the 26 July 2010:...............................................27 2.3 The EU Mission to the WTO and the effects of the Decision of the Council:.28 2.4 The division of competences between the EAS and the Commission in the EU Mission to the WTO: ........................................................................................................31 Conclusions of the Chapter: ............................................................................................33 3 The EAS and the European Union Foreign and Security Policy .............................34 3.1 The impact of the EAS on the external coherence and consistency.................35 3.1.1 The issues of coherence ....................................................................................35 3.1.2 Efforts to develop a common external security policy: the European Security Strategy: .........................................................................................................................37 3.2 The EU management of security threats:...........................................................39 3.2.1 The organization of a CSDP operation:...........................................................41 Conclusions of the Chapter: ............................................................................................43 viii 4 General Conclusion ......................................................................................................45 Bibliography..........................................................................................................................48 ANNEXES .............................................................................................................................51 ix List of Annexes Annex 1 – The EU’s actors in external relations after the Lisbon Treaty……………...49 Annex 2 – The Permanent Mission of the EU to the WTO, Organization Chart…….. 50 Annex 3 – The Transfer of Staff from the Commission and the Council to the EAS... 51 Annex 4 – The Institutional Structure of the EAS…………………………………….52 x List of Abbreviations ACP