Internationale Politikanalyse Europäische Politik, May 2005 Working Group On European Integration* The EU Needs A Foreign Affairs Minister With An Effective European External Action Service T he appointment, in 1999, of Javier Solana as High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy has led to a visible upgrading of the EU on the interna­tional scene. The EU has adopted its own security strategy and has engaged in finding solutions for sev­eral regional conflicts. But it continues to suffer from inadequate coordination and institutional frictions. There is a consensus among EU policy makers that these problems need to be addressed if the EU wants to be an effective voice and actor in world affairs. ∗ The Constitutional Treaty contains two important innovations for the shaping of the future European for­eign policy. • The creation of a EU Minister for Foreign Affairs who will be Vice-President of the European Com­mission, responsible for external relations, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Council(“double­hatting”); • The creation of a European External Action Service, the administrative body that will assist the foreign minister in the implementation of his functions. The European Council will deliberate in June 2005 upon the implementation. Preparatory work, in par­ticular concerning the institutional and administrative aspects of the EEAS, has been going on for the past few months. This paper wishes to contribute to a bet­ter understanding of the ongoing debate. It will focus on five essential points and refrain from dealing with the detailed administrative questions that are being raised in the course of this debate. These five points can be put as follows: • What are the functions of the EU Foreign Minister? • What sort of administrative structures should he/ she build on? • How to create a common diplomatic culture among the European diplomatic service? • How to implement European foreign policy effec­tively? ∗ The Working Group On European Integration was founded in 1995. Its members work in EU institutions, the(German) pub­lic sector, research institutions and non-governmental organi­zations. • What should happen in case of non-ratification of the Constitutional Treaty? The Mission of the EU-Foreign Minister With the entry into force of the Constitution Javier So­lana shall become the first European Foreign Minister; at the same time he will become the Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of external rela­tions. This will be a major innovation in EU External Re­lations. What will be his mission? 1. The EU-Foreign Minister will be in charge of all as­pects of EU External Relations, from development is­sues to Human Rights, to Foreign and Security Pol­icy. He will have to develop common positions on all fields of external relations and, where this is not possible, establish coherence between national for­eign policies. 2. The EU Foreign Minister will represent common EU positions internationally, except in international meetings between Heads of State or Government where the external representation is the compe­tence of the President of the European Council or the President of the Commission. 3. The Foreign Minister will chair the meetings of the EU-Foreign Affairs Council. The six-month rotating presidency will no longer apply to this policy area. The continuity at the Council Presidency, together with his superior knowledge of issues, interests and personalities involved, will allow the Foreign Minis­ter to influence the decision-making process among his colleagues. He can thus hope to reach more eas­ily compromise solutions more easily and overcome the requirement of unanimity for all decisions in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy(CFSP). The continuity of the Chair will also contribute to a better coherence between the different fields of ex­ternal relations. 4. In the interest of greater continuity and coherence, his officials from the EEAS will chair the meetings of the Political and Security Committee and the CFSP working groups of the Council.