With the clock ticking ahead of a self-imposed, almost impossible to achieve 30 April deadline (see 'Background'), Ashton is preparing to officially present her proposal at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday (22 March).
According to diplomats, Ashton has kept her proposal for the EU's first-ever diplomatic service rather short and general in order to steer clear of controversy, with details to be decided later.
EU ministers are expected to debate the EEAS preparations at a combined meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC), responsible for institutional issues among other things, and the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), which deals with the entirety of the EU's external action.
Diplomats said there was "such excitement" about deciding where the EEAS should be discussed, with some countries "obsessed" with the GAC format and others preferring the FAC alternative. In the end, it was decided that both formats would be merged for the occasion. As a rule, the High Representative chairs FAC meetings.
Diplomats in Brussels and European capitals are struggling to shape the organisational chart of the new service, which to a great extent will reveal the chain of command within the powerful administration in-waiting. In particular, it will give a clearer idea of the position of the existing Council and Commission services in the new design.
Who holds the five keys
Another important issue is the division of labour between the Commission and the future EEAS diplomats. Until now, the Commission services abroad have been largely responsible for development and cooperation programmes, but not for diplomacy proper. With the EEAS in place, decision-making in development-related fields will take place in five stages, with diplomats in charge of the first, more political stages and the Commission services taking over for the next, more technical levels.
What remains undecided is whether the EEAS should be responsible of the first two or three stages of decision-making. The Commission wants the service to be responsible only for the first two stages.
"The Commission wants to make sure it still owns the house, even though we're getting married," an official close to EEAS said.
Parliament sources told EurActiv that in the event that the EEAS takes responsibility for the first three stages of decision-making, Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs would largely find himself out of a job, and Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle would lose control over relations with the EU's neighbours.
"The proposal will not include the organigramme," a diplomat from a large Western EU country said, adding that Ashton would try to maximise her chances of obtaining support from the Council and Parliament by presenting a rather sketchy blueprint.
Responding to a question from EurActiv, the ambassador of a large Western EU country said the documents needed to meet the end of April deadline would consist of "basic elements" defining "the perimeter of activity and the functioning" of the new service, its relations vis-à-vis the other EU institutions, and allowing the recruitment process to begin.
As for recruitment, Western diplomats offered new member states little hope that their demands on ensuring a "geographical balance" would be respected, implying that these countries, which are underrepresented so far in EU institutions, should benefit from quotas in the recruitment process.
"I would be very, very surprised if there were quotas," a Western diplomat told this website.
Secretary-general will be key
"Once Cathy has appointed the secretary-general, you can say the EEAS is on," he added, saying the appointment would be a key moment in the birth of the EU diplomatic service.
Both France and Germany have an interest in the key position and a few names are circulating already. Spain and particularly Italy, which has found itself sidelined in several top job appointments lately, may also put forward candidates and other countries could follow suit.
Diplomats officially say it is premature to talk about candidates when a procedure for appointing the secretary- general is yet to be agreed. This particular point of detail is expected to be part of Ashton's proposal, to be presented to foreign ministers today.
The proposal will state that Ashton must be the appointing officer for the secretary-general, as she is for any member of the EEAS, a Western diplomat said.
But before that, diplomats admit that major countries such as France or Germany need to be given assurances that they will obtain key positions for their representatives.
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