The foreign ministers formally adopted a decision on setting up the service, outlining its organisation and its functioning.
At least one third of EEAS staff will be provided by member states. Another 60%, at least, will be EU personnel. The European component is therefore meant to remain predominant within the new service (EurActiv 07/07/10).
The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, branded the move as an "historic decision" which will allow the EU to "move forward to build a modern, effective and distinctly European service for the 21st century".
However, the decision does not represent the final step in lengthy negotiations to establish the new service. Budgetary issues must still be resolved in order to allow it "to come into being by the first anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty," which entered into force in December 2009.
Cost conundrum
Lady Ashton is pushing for amendments to the EU 2010 budget, which are required to give the service the financial resources it needs. However, the exact cost of establishing the EEAS is not yet known.
Despite commitments to keep costs "as low as possible" and the estimated 10% efficiency gain from bringing different services together, many observers are concerned about the possible extra costs which the service could trigger, especially in a period of economic austerity.
Ashton herself admitted yesterday that there would be start-up costs in the initial phase, without giving details of amounts. To cut costs, she said trips might be cancelled and replaced with video conferences wherever possible.
Concerns about costs and the transparency of the new service were voiced yesterday in the European Parliament. German MEP Inge Gräßle, spokeswoman in the budgetary control committee for the European People's Party (EPP), complained yesterday about a lack of transparency in creating the service and in transferring posts from the Council and the Commission.
This, she said in a statement, means that "a considerable increase in the number of posts and hierarchy can hardly be retraced in its aftermath".
Gräßle accuses the Commission of creating 100 top positions at the level of director-general with basic salaries of up to €18,000 per month, "despite its 87-strong target".
She "fears that this logic might apply even more stringently to the European External Action Service, since it will rely initially on as many as 16 directors-general and 12 special representatives at the rank of director-general."
This means a far smaller bureaucracy than the Commission and carries the risk of seeing a future surge in the number of EEAS staff and consequently its costs.
Battle for positions
As the decision on establishing the EEAS is made formal, member states are escalating the diplomatic battle to win the most coveted positions within the new service.
The top positions are the post of secretary-general of the service, for which a French national already seems to be in pole position; the positions of two deputy secretary-generals; two top security positions, heading the Political and Security Committee and the intelligence-sharing body; the post of budget and HR chief; and the top four director-generals.
Most countries are not hiding their ambitions to secure one of these top positions. Another battle concerns 30 key posts in the most important EU embassies around the world. Ashton is already recruiting the diplomats who will fill these positions.
Finding the right balance between the conflicting interests of 27 member states will be another significant test of her diplomatic skills.
