The Role Of The European External Action Service In The Eus Institutional System

European External Action Service (EEAS) is a new institution of the European Union, whose foundation was laid by the Treaty of Lisbon with the role to support the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in fulfilling his mandate and, also to assist the President of the European Council, European Commission, President and other Commissioners to exercise their powers in international relations. Since the establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) is relatively recent, this article tries to highlight the crucial role of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in the European Union's institutional system and its contribution to strengthening the coherence and increasing impact and visibility of European Union action at international level and thus the one of the Member States.

In European External Action Service, Mauro Gatti provides a legal analysis of the EU’s ‘foreign ministry’. The European External Action Service (EEAS) was created to coordinate the supranational and intergovernmental areas of EU external relations, but it is unclear whether and how it may attain this objective. Through an analysis of law and practice, Gatti demonstrates that the EEAS is capable of effectively promoting coherence in EU external relations. Although working independently from EU institutions and Member States, the EEAS can coordinate their activities at an administrative level. The EEAS is thus ideally placed to bring together EU external action instruments, including diplomatic efforts, development cooperation, and security policies.

This book questions whether the institutions and practices of the emerging EU diplomatic system conform to established standards of the state-centric diplomatic order; or whether practice is paving the way for innovative, even revolutionary, forms of diplomatic organisation.

"The Lisbon Treaty created a new EU foreign affairs chief, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who is also Vice-President of the European Commission. The High Representative is supported by a new diplomatic corps known as the European External Action Service (EEAS). This report addressed the question of whether the setting up of the EEAS has been managed effectively. It concludes both that the EEAS was established without adequate preparation and that its efficiency was impaired by shortcomings in its management of resources. The Court also found that, although coordination between the EEAS and both the Commission and Member States was improving, it was still inadequate. "-- Page [4] of cover.

Based on extensive empirical work by a cross-European group of researchers, this book assesses the impact of the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) on the national foreign policy-making processes and institutions of the EU member states. As such, the contributions cover both the involvement of the national diplomatic and foreign policy actors in shaping the outlook of the EEAS and its mission, as well as the changes (or not) it has produced for those actors of the member states. The analysis draws in theoretical frameworks from Europeanization and socialization, but also from intergovernmental frameworks of policy-making within the European Union. An introduction by the editors outlines the issues and trends examined in the book and establishes the theoretical and methodological framework. Split into 2 sections, Part I: EEAS and national diplomacies as part of global and European structures has contributions by Richard Whitman, Rosa Balfour, Christian Lequesne, Caterina Carta and Simon Duke. Part II: National diplomacies shaping and being shaped by the EEAS is covered by Daniel Fiott, Fabien Terpan, Cornelius Adebahr, Andrea Frontini, Ignacio Molina and Alicia Sorroza, Laura C. Ferreira-Pereira, Alena Vysotskaya G. Vieira and Louise van Schaik, Grzegorz Gromadzki, Mark Rhinard, Jakob Lewander and Sara Norrevik, Sabina Kajnc Lange, Ruby Gropas and George Tzogopoulos, Vit Beneš and Kristi Raik. This book is much needed, especially in an era when the EU is trying to pull its weight in the international sphere (e.g. Syria, Iran, the Arab Spring, Chinese relations and emerging powers) but also at a time when the EU is trying to recalibrate its institutional structure in light of the current financial predicaments and questions on the democratic legitimacy of the European project.

It has now been almost two years since the Treaty of Lisbon took effect. The time was characterized by an intensive and controversial discussion between the European Union (EU) institutions and member states on the setup of arguably the most important institutional innovation besides the new post of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR): the European External Action Service (EEAS).The EEAS has the purpose of serving its head, HR Ashton, in fulfilling her tasks of, inter alia, conducting the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and increasing the efficiency and coherence of EU external relations. Regarding hither to the execution of EU foreign policy, the HR admitted in the run-up to the establishment of the EEAS that “the EU can be too slow, too cumbersome and too bureaucratic”1. With the setup of the new diplomatic service the EU wished to overcome occurring difficulties that result out of the complex net of responsibilities that characterise the external relations of the EU and thus ‘give the EU a stronger voice around the world, and greater impact on the ground’2.Given the fact that the EEAS constitutes a whole new de facto institution without predecessor and was therefore built from scratch,it is very interesting from a political scientist point of view to see where and how the new service is positioned in the institutional architecture of the EU system. Since the EEAS was ought to bring together rather intergovernmental (e.g. CFSP) and supranational (e.g. development cooperation) policy spheres of EU external action, a discussion on how it can be scrutinized by grand theories of European integration seems to offer valuable insights.In section 2 this research paper first takes a deeper look at two of the most influential grand theories of European integration, neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism. Basic assumptions and logics of the two approaches will be used to build indicators with which the overall research question of the analysis will be assessed: ¿can the two grand theories explain the institutional setup of the newly established EEAS? The empirical examination of the topic,which will mainly be based on the relevant treaty provisions and the existing decisions and reports of the EU institutions on the EEAS, follows in section 3 of the paper. Furthermore, findings of various academic articles that dealt with the EEAS in the last two years are taken into account. A conclusion summarizes the results of the analysis in section 4.

The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) is one of the most significant changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. Often referred to as the EU's 'Diplomatic Service', it is aimed at enabling greater coherence and efficiency in EU's external action. On 1 December 2010 the EEAS started its work. Over the past three years, the EEAS has been variously criticised. Considering the uncertainties about the division of labour and responsibilities, some of the criticism is justified. Albeit, it will require more than a few bureaucratic changes to make the EEAS to speak with one voice. This book attempts not only to focus on the shortcomings concerning the implementation of the EEAS but it also reflects on the added values of the service. For academics and practitioners alike, Dialer, Neisser and Opitz provide a balanced and fine-grained account of the role and functions of the EEAS and invite their readers to further discuss and research on this topic.

This volume addresses how and in what capacity the European Union and its member states are able to respond to fundamental shifts occurring in global politics and remain relevant for the future. The changing nature of the international system is subject to considerable contestation among scholars, with many claiming that the fundamentals of the post-war international system are being rewritten. This volume brings together prominent scholars in the field of European security to address a range of pertinent issues related to Europe’s role in the context of evolving global challenges. The first section focuses on whether the EU is an actor with a strategic nature and the means to act on a global security strategy. The second section considers the institutional dynamics and the approaches at the EU’s disposal to fulfil its possible intended global roles. The third section addresses Europe’s most important strategic relationship—the partnership it has with the United States. This section considers the recalibration of the transatlantic relationship in light of the changing international system and the reorientation of U.S. foreign policy. This book will be of much interest to students of European Union policy, European Security policy, European Foreign policy and International Relations in general.

The EU performs inadequately in foreign policy and its arrangements, which developed informally, have not been fit for purpose. The changes under the Lisbon Treaty will give it more effective means to formulate and implement agreed common policies, and will help to generate the necessary political will among member states.