The following articles are compiled by:

Rick Allinson

Rick@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

EU faces raft of open questions over diplomatic service
Source: EU Observer

 

27 November 2007 – Even if the EU succeeds in ratifying its newly agreed Reform Treaty in all 27 member states, the bloc is braced for further political wrangling over how to get its act together on foreign policy.

One of the more high-profile projects in the treaty - the creation of an EU diplomatic service - is likely to cause strong political tension even after the treaty is scheduled to be in force in 2009, experts predicted during the launch of a new report by the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC) last week.

The treaty says the newly created diplomatic force – officially called European External Action Service - will "assist" the EU's future top foreign policy official, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

 

The newly-styled high representative will have a "double hat" and cover the existing posts of member states' foreign policy chief – currently Javier Solana – and the European Commission's external relations commissioner.

Consequently, the EU diplomatic force will consist of officials from the secretariat of the EU Council (which is Mr Solana's office), commission staff as well as seconded diplomats from national capitals.

But after the entering into force of the treaty - scheduled for January 2009 - it is likely to take years before the diplomatic service is fully up and running, as the treaty leaves several sensitive political decisions to fight over for EU capitals and institutions.

The service is likely to employ thousands of staff - but its exact size and composition are still fully unclear, highlighted Wilhelm Schoenfelder, who until recently served as Germany's ambassador to the EU. "What will be the share of member states, and how will be the share among member states? I don't know. These are all open questions."

…

Lastly, the cash for the whole project still needs to be scraped together. "Up until now nobody has done any preparatory work for the budget," Mr Schoenfelder said, asking whether there is money enough in the EU's 2007-2013 or whether "additional money" is needed.

Preparatory work
The treaty says that "preparatory work" on the service should already start right after the signature of the document, scheduled for next month - and this could already prove to be a potential political minefield.

Guenter Burghardt, a former EU ambassador to the US, warned that "we have to make sure that there are no discussions taking place in the open air" before the UK parliament has ratified the reform treaty and Ireland has held its treaty referendum early next summer, with both London and Dublin sensitive about foreign policy issues.

But France, holding the EU presidency in the second half of next year, could cause upset by actively meddling in the preparations.

On top of this, it is also not clear when the new high representative – who will make formal proposals on the "organisation and functioning" of the service once the treaty comes into force – will enter the fray.

The new treaty is meant to come into effect in January 2009 - but a new European Commission - of which he or she will be a member - will be appointed only 11 months later, in November.

"I've heard that at least for the transitional period from January 2009 to November, Javier Solana will be in office", said Mr Schoenfelder, asking "When will the decision take place – before the new commission takes office or only after?"

"This is also decisive for the question when the service will start working", he added.

 

Comments: In order for the reform treaty to come into force by Jan 2009, all 27 member countries must ratify the text before that date. This could prove to be a challenge and if there are any delays it could push the treaty date back a few months but we will have to wait and see how that unfolds.

 

Like the article explains “the newly-styled high representative will have a "double hat" and cover the existing posts of member states' foreign policy chief – currently Javier Solana – and the European Commission's external relations commissioner.

 

The high representative will have an extremely powerful position once the reform treaty is in place. This position is scheduled to be appointed in November of 2009 but what happens if the EU reform treaty is delayed? This could push the appointment of the high representative back a few months to maybe the middle of 2010? If this were to happen, that appointment would be right in the Mid Point of the EU’s 2007-2013 budget period, the same period as the European Neighbourhood Policy’s budget  which the high representative’s second hat controls as external relations commissioner. My point is…that appointment could be scheduled for 42 months right up to the end of the budget period.

 

We should keep an eye on the current high representative position and during that transitional period because if this is the AC’s seat, the bible tells us that he is scheduled “to continue”. Even now it is not clear when (above) the high representative position will enter the fray”.  Watch this!

 

Re 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Note: Javier Solana was relatively silent during the Annapolis meeting. Why would he say anything, there is no peace deal yet.

 

Thanks for all the feedbacks and emails!

 

Rick

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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