(Insight-EU-Analysis) EU mulls pick for new chief diplomat on background of crisis By Veselin Jelev, dpa

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1 Di, , 11:10 ien eq 1901 dpa 0001 EU external relations staff (Insight-EU-Analysis) EU mulls pick for new chief diplomat on background of crisis By Veselin Jelev, dpa The EU is to pick a new high representative to head its foreign policy as part of a bargain balancing gender, party and nationality in the new Commission. Critics say the EU needs a strong name to tackle foreign policy crises rather than a weak consensus candidate. Brussels (dpa Insight) - As EU-Russia ties hit historical lows over Ukraine, debate is getting louder on who should head EU diplomacy and indeed on what European foreign policy look like. The debate is focused on two key issues: who will step into the shoes of Catherine Ashton, the outgoing EU high representative for foreign policy and security, and how her department, the European External Action Service (EEAS), will function from now on. EU heads of state and government failed to reach an agreement on Ashton s successor at their July 16, 2014 summit in Brussels. They postponed the decision to August 30 and vowed to take it in a package with other key appointments. These include a successor to outgoing European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and the distribution of 26 commissioner portfolios besides those of Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker and the future high representative. ## Package deal Ironically foreign policy concerns have been placed third among the criteria to select the future EU top diplomat. Being female and centre-left are the two main requirements under a political deal reached by national leaders and the main centre-right and centre-right groups in the European Parliament that backed Luxembourg s Christian Democratic Jean-Claude Juncker as Commission President-elect. Speaking at a news conference after the July 16, 2014 summit, Merkel said that the high representative should come from the centre-left. When the president of the Commission is from the (European People s Party), then the high representative ought to be a Socialist but by saying that I am not saying who is going to hold that office, she said. French President Francois Hollande concurred. An equilibrium must be found since the president of the European Commission is from the centre-right so there ought to be a filling from the Socialist component for the positions still in debate, he said to journalists on the same day. Making the high representative appointment part of a package deal has a rationale: it is a tradition in the EU behind-the-scenes power sharing that allows losers to get some sort compensation so that the

2 final deal is acceptable for all. There is a kind of interdependence between the portfolios in the Commission and the top positions, Merkel said. We begin by having member countries nominate their candidates, that will then allow Jean-Claude Juncker to begin consultations. He will have to strike a balance between male and female candidates and then comes the question who is going to be the high representative, she added. That is a decision that should not be taken on its own. It has to be embedded into the broader context. Hollande agreed, saying: There was a recognition that you can t have an appointment of a high representative for foreign and security policy if you don t have a global package. President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz has said the new Commission could fail to receive the needed majority support in the assembly if the number of female candidates is not increased. Women have thus far made up a small minority of the national nominations to the new Commission. ## A different caliber Analysts note that this compromise approach might prove to be out of touch with European and global realities after the downing of Malaysia s MH17 flight over Russian separatist-held Eastern Ukraine where 298 people, mostly EU citizens, died. Steven Blockmans, a senior foreign policy researcher at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies told dpa Insight EU that the Ukraine crisis should be a game-changer for EU foreign policy. This is simply because it is the first time that so many EU citizens perished in one single event and due to the fact that this has mobilised a popular outcry from the EU member states own societies, he said. Blockmans argued that public opinion could pressure EU leaders to appoint a more senior figure. Foreign policy has all of a sudden been enriched with a popular demand for justice and for action, he said. This combination of elements should push the member states into appointing a person of a different caliber than the current high representative. ## The contenders Names mentioned as possible successors to Ashton include: - Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini (41). She has been appointed recently and has some background as secretary of her country s parliamentary committee on defence. Her name failed to attract a consensus at the July 16, 2014 summit. Mogherini is strongly promoted by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi but Poland and the Baltic states are sceptical of her because of her originally soft stance towards Russia; - Massimo D Alema (65) who served as Italy s prime minister from 1998 to 2000 and as foreign minister between 2006 and 2008, has been mentioned as a possible plan B for Renzi; - Poland s staunchly pro-western and Oxford-trained foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski (51), has been proposed by his country

3 with the support of the Baltic states. However being a man from centre-right political background, he does not match the framework of the political deal. Sikorski has been weakened by a leak of coarse comments he had made in private about his country s relations with the United States; - Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev announced on July 25, 2014 that he would re-nominate Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva (60), who is responsible for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. A former World Bank vice-president with 18 years of experience in the Washington-based institution, she has no party affiliation but had originally been named commissioner by the previous centre-right government of former prime minister Boiko Borisov in Her being internationally experienced, a woman and from Eastern Europe have been mentioned being among the key factors in her favour. ## Pros and cons While agreeing that the high representative should be a Socialist, Merkel has not specifically supported Mogherini. Hollande on the contrary said: The Italian candidature has my support. He also tried to downplay Mogherini s short experience. The high representative doesn t have the vocation himself or herself to incarnate the foreign policy, he said. This is a collective deliberation. She has to be the spokesperson, sometimes the negotiator. Blockmans disagreed. What events call for is a strong and credible, experienced figure, he said. I see especially Radek Sikorski in such a position. Georgieva comes close but she is not a Socialist which is also a problem, he added. She doesn t fall into the right box of being a lady from a Socialist party. As far as Mogherini is concerned, he said: I am not sure she has enough clout to meet the criteria for a strong and experienced person that Jean-Claude Juncker has set forth and which the EU foreign policy is in need of at this stage. Bulgaria s centre-right MEP Andrey Kovatchev, who belongs to Borisov s party GERB, told dpa Insight EU that Georgieva should not be treated as a centre-right candidate since she was member of no party. Kovatchev recalled that Bulgaria s outgoing non-partisan Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski voiced oral support for Gerogieva at the July 16, 2014 summit, although his government fell short of naming her because of objections by the Socialists, the main party that supported his government. Oresharski s government has had to resign as the Socialists performed poorly at the European elections and were abandoned by their coalition ally, an ethnic Turkish party. Yes, the Poles and the Baltics want Sikorski but it is hardly realistic that he can make consensus in the Council, Kovatchev said. If they see that he has no chances, they would in all cases prefer Georgieva to Mogherini. ## EEAS under criticism: many chiefs, few Indians

4 On top of the uncertainty about the EU future high representative the European External Action Service has come under criticism after the European Court of Auditors in June published a scathing report about its first five years of performance under Ashton (see links). The service employs 3,392 staff 1,487 at its Brussels headquarters and 1,905 in the EU s 140 delegations abroad. It has a budget of 519 million euros for 2014 and the European Commission tops up the delegations spending with another 270 million euros per year. The report described the service s establishment as rushed and inadequately prepared, beset by too many constraints and vaguely defined tasks. The paper also said the EEAS had weaknesses in the prioritisation, organisation and allocation of resources that had reduced its efficiency and that coordination with the Commission and member states had improved, but was still insufficient for the EEAS to fulfil its potential. The specific points of criticism included the following: - in view of a rapidly evolving international situation, the EEAS has favoured ad hoc approaches instead of proposing an overarching foreign policy strategy; - the EEAS has not yet adopted an internal strategy or management plan. No objectives and criteria to assess their achievement. Complex organisation makes cooperation between various departments difficult; - the work of the EEAS 11 special representatives, seven of which are based in Brussels, for different world regions and crises overlaps with those of EEAS regular units and delegations. - the EEAS recruitment procedures were lengthy and costly; - significant gender and geographical imbalances, which already existed in the previous foreign policy structures, still remained. EEAS had too few women working as administrators (34 per cent). Only 14 per cent of managers came from the member states which joined the Union in 2004 and 2007, which is below the 21 per cent that would represent their share of the EU population; -although being vice-president of the European Commission, Ashton was not able to attend two thirds of its meetings in 2012, including those with direct or indirect impact over EU foreign policy. In addition, it proved to be difficult to organise formal meetings of External Relations Commissioners, with only five held in 29 months, all chaired by the President of the Commission; - there is no clear division of responsibilities between the EU Situation Room, the Emergency Response Centre and four other specific centres concerning the EU security and foreign policy. In between the lines, you can read that there are too many chiefs and too little Indians in the EEAS setup, Blockmans said. Ashton, who was supposed to preside over those coordination meetings of commissioners, allowed herself to be pushed away by Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, who joined all those meetings every time they were called in the beginning, he added. Kovatchev said big member states were reluctant to cede foreign

5 policy powers to the EEAS. Besides that, the high representative is appointed by the member states and they don t want him or her to be a strong personality that is able to bang on the table when necessary, he said. The voices of Britain s, France s and Germany s foreign ministers are much louder internationally that that of the EU foreign minister. Links: -->[ECA report on EEAS June, 2014]( -->[CEPS paper: The EEAS two years on: Legal cooperation and external-institutions relations]( -->[CEPS paper: The EEAS and the European Neighbourhood Policy: a change in rhetoric or reality?]( -->[CEPS report: The Rationales behind the European External Action Service]( dpa vjj cjw Copyright: dpa