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Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

13.12.08: EU Treaty's impact on defence policy remains unclear - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...article-170256

cfsp esdp eu-policies europeanparliament lisbon-treaty

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 13 Feb 08 - Cached
  • The Lisbon Treaty will strengthen the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) but the scope of the changes will very much depend on the composition of the new troika to be appointed in 2009, according to MEPs and experts participating in a European Parliament workshop.
  • Background: The Lisbon Treaty, which was signed by European heads of state and government in December 2007 and is expected to come into effect in 2009, brings with it several changes for the ESDP.  The most notable one is the upgrade of the position of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), a role currently held by Javier Solana. The HR, who will be supported by a European External Action Service (EEAS), will also serve as a Commission vice-president and will technically be the Union's foreign minister.  Moreover, the new treaty provides for an extension of the Petersberg Tasks on peacekeeping, disarmament and conflict prevention and resolution as well as 'permanent structured cooperation' of those member states "whose military capabilities fulfil higher criteria and which have made more binding commitments".  The text also includes first-ever mutual defence and solidarity  clause in an EU treaty. 
  • uropean Union Parliament: The Lisbon Treaty and its implications for CFSP/ESDP (February 2008) Parliament: The Impact of the Lisbon Treaty on ESDP (January 2008)
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

21.10.10: EEAS to be born on Lisbon Treaty anniversary - 0 views

euractiv.com/...treaty-anniversary-news-498990

eu-policies cfsp high_representative EEAS europeanparliament lisbon_implementation eu-policy_memberstates

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 23 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • In the presence of a smiling Catherine Ashton, the European Parliament yesterday (20 October) approved by an overwhelming majority the last three legislative texts required to launch the European External Action Service (EEAS) on 1 December 2010, the day of the first anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty.
  • The Parliament in Strasbourg passed the Staff Regulation, the Financial Regulation and the EEAS 2010 budget, clearing the way for High Representative Catherine Ashton to appoint the senior managerial team of the new EU diplomatic service. The appointment of the dozen high officials is expected to facilitate the selection of candidates for some 80 middle-management positions, which are also up for grabs in a first wave of recruitment. However, the selection process so far has left a bitter after-taste, with many capitals strongly pushing for their candidates in the hope of gaining influence in the new body from the first day. When fully operational, the EEAS is expected to provide attractive employment to some 6,000 people worldwide. The ambassador of a member country, who asked not to be named, told EurActiv the EEAS was becoming "the home of the high-flying protégés of governments in power".
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

08.07.10: EU takes 'historic' step on new diplomatic service - 0 views

euobserver.com/30448

lisbon-treaty cfsp EEAS eu-policy_memberstates

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 08 Jul 10 - Cached
  • Foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton will turn her attention to choosing the top officials and the main building for the European External Action Service (EEAS) after the EU Parliament approved the legal blueprint for the new body. MEPs in a landslide result in Strasbourg on Thursday (8 July) backed the final EEAS set-up by 549 votes against 78 with 17 abstentions.
  • The EEAS today boils down to Ms Ashton and a team of 30-or-so officials in one corridor on the 12th floor of the European Commission building in Brussels, struggling to work with EU experts in the commission's Charlemagne building next door, the EU Council building across the road and dozens of other bureaus. From 1 December, she will take command of some 1,500 officials housed under one roof in the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels, as well as 800 EU diplomats in the EEAS' 136 foreign embassies.
  • In a sign of tension in the Lisbon-Treaty-era EU, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos defended member states' prerogatives in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Mr Fillon reportedly said it is a "red line" for Paris that member states will take foreign policy decisions, while Ms Ashton will simply "implement" them. Mr Moratinos said that in some cases, such as human rights in Cuba, bilateral diplomacy is more effective than EU-level action. For his part, the leader of the Liberal group in the parliament, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, on Wednesday attacked the "19th century" mentality of "nation states." "What century are we living in? Terrorism, does that stop at borders? Climate change? Migration?" he said.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

13.05.08: EP report on European External Action Service (EEAS) - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...article-172309

cfsp eu-policies europeanparliament interinstitutional_relations lisbon-treaty

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 14 May 08 - Cached
  • The European Parliament is trying to influence the ongoing preparations for the establishment of a 'European External Action Service' (EEAS), to be set up jointly between the EU Council of Ministers and the Commission after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. But critics say this major novelty in the EU architecture is about to be introduced in almost complete secrecy.
  • On 6 May, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee put forward a draft report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which is intended to constitute MEPs' wish-list vis-à-vis the Council and the Commission on establishing EEAS.  The report points out that the future office of High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission will derive its legitimacy directly from the European Parliament. It also stresses the need for "transparency and democratic input" into the process of setting up the planned European External Action Service, and calls for a mechanism to be set up to provide confidential information to select Foreign Affairs Committee Members. 
  • "The key expectation of the Parliament is that it has more to say on that and Parliament can add additional democratic legitimacy from taking positions. And we expect to be involved in shaping these decisions ex ante, and not only post factum," Saryusz-Wolsky said. 
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • EU official documents Lisbon treaty see Article 2, Title VI European Parliament Draft report on CFSP by Jacek Saryusz-Wolski European Parliament Press release: A more effective EU foreign policy in prospect, but more parliamentary scrutiny needed The European Commission Sppeech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

EU parliament to arm-twist Ashton on appointments for the EEAS - 0 views

euobserver.com/30712

lisbon-treaty eu-policies cfsp EEAS high_representative

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 01 Sep 10 - Cached
  • Two senior MEPs have indicated that the European Parliament will leverage its legal powers to make sure Catherine Ashton gets the "right balance" of top people in the diplomatic corps. Ms Ashton, the EU foreign relations chief, is getting ready to unveil her nominations for 31 heads of mission and deputy heads of mission for EU embassies abroad, as well as a further 80 senior diplomatic postings and the top 20-or-so administrative jobs in the European External Action Service (EEAS).
  • A parliament negotiator on the EEAS regulations, German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, told EUobserver that another big chunk should go to European Commission candidates so that the EEAS becomes a genuine EU body instead of an inter-governmental one. "There needs to be a proper institutional balance. If all the posts come from the member states and the Council, then we will have a problem," he warned. He added that parliament aims to call around 10 out of the top diplomatic nominations for hearings: "If someone goes before the European Parliament and it is a total disaster, then it will be difficult for Ms Ashton to keep them."
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

25.07.10: Will New Diplomatic Service Help EU To Speak With One Voice? - 0 views

www.rferl.org/...2108488.html

eu eu-policies eu-policy_memberstates cfsp lisbon-treaty eu-institutions

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 25 Jul 10 - Cached
  • The European Union is just months away from launching a new unified diplomatic service. But any hopes that the new structure will bring greater focus and effectiveness to the bloc's foreign policy are probably premature, analysts say.The European External Action Service (EEAS), whose creation was a key provision of last year's Lisbon Treaty, is expected to be fully operational on January 1. It eventually will be staffed with thousands of diplomats in Brussels and in EU missions around the world.
  • But while the new diplomatic corps may change the way the EU executes its foreign policy, it will not change the way the bloc's foreign policy is formulated. Foreign affairs within the bloc, observers say, will remain very much the prerogative of member states' national governments.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

05.03.10: 'Difficult birth' awaits EU diplomatic service - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...diplomatic-service-news-305778

lisbon-treaty eu-policies cfsp EEAS eu-institutions

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 12 Mar 10 - Cached
  • The birth of the European External Action Service, one of the most anticipated innovations of the Lisbon Treaty, will be a difficult one, admitted a top European Commission official yesterday (4 March).
  • Implicitly, he appeared to confirm that the blueprint, already drafted by Ashton's committee, was encountering difficulties in some member countries. A "long discussion" had taken place at the level of EU member-state ambassadors (Coreper) yesterday, he said, and talks were due to continue at the informal foreign ministers' meeting in Cordoba, Spain, tomorrow (5 March). The European Parliament will also have a say, he added. But recruiting staff from the member countries will take time, Vale de Almeida said, adding that upgrading the European Commission's existing network of foreign delegations will also take "a few months". Speaking to EurActiv, Vale de Almeida said that if the decision was taken by the end of April as planned, he expected the service to start work by the end of the year.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

04.10.10: Ashton calls off EU ambassador hearings - 0 views

euobserver.com/30957

lisbon-treaty cfsp high_representative EEAS europeanparliament eu-institutions eu-policies

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 05 Oct 10 - No Cached

  • EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has called off plans for EU ambassadors to hold hearings in the European Parliament in a serious rift with MEPs over the set-up of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

    Ms Ashton announced the move late on Monday (4 October) on the eve of the first hearing with the new EU envoy to Japan, Austrian diplomat Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, which was due to have taken place in the parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday morning.

    The decision comes after MEPs opted to hold the hearings in public and before the nominees have been formally installed in their posts, raising the risk that if one of them tripped up in questioning it could cost them their new job.

Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

France breaks ranks on Libya, dwarfs EU's Ashton | EurActiv - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...-dwarfs-eus-ashton-news-503003

eu-policies cfsp eeas high_representative interinstitutional_conflicts

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 Mar 11 - Cached
  • France broke ranks with its European partners yesterday (10 March) by becoming the first country to recognise Libya's opposition and by deciding to "explore the possibility" of carrying out targeted bombings in the civil war-torn country. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton finds herself pushed onto the sidelines as EU leaders flock to Brussels for a crisis summit.
  • According to the EU Treaties, the bloc's Common Foreign and Security Policy is an area of "shared competence" between member countries and the Union. In an effort to ensure greater coordination and consistency in EU foreign policy, the Treaty of Lisbon created Catherine Ashton's post. Ashton is in charge of implementing the agreed common positions of the EU. It appears, however, that there is no obstacle preventing one member country from breaking free from positions that have already been agreed, as illustrated by France in the Libya case.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

27.07.10: EU foreign ministers approve diplomatic service - 0 views

euobserver.com/30543

eu-policies cfsp EEAS eu-policy_memberstates lisbon-treaty

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 27 Jul 10 - Cached
  • EU foreign ministers on Monday (26 July) gave the nod to the overall structure of the Union's new diplomatic service, paving the way for chief of diplomacy Catherine Ashton to begin making appointments to the service that will employ thousands.
  • With the fight to have the service established largely over, the focus is now likely set on the extent to which member states, several of whom jealously guard their foreign policy prerogatives, will allow a coherent foreign policy to thrive.
  • Big countries have been keen to stress the service will not impinge on their foreign policy sovereignty, a point illustrated by the extent to which they are prepared to consider closing their own embassies in certain countries and use the EU embassy.
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