Tag: common foreign policy

EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today (10 March) ahead of a special summit on Friday dedicated to the ongoing civil war in Libya and to the wider Southern Mediterranean region. Ministers will reportedly assess the risk that the conflict could degenerate and drag on for a long time.

"I am deeply concerned by today’s events on the Korean Peninsula, which have reportedly led to casualties among South Korean military and civilians," EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton stated after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island.

A consensus is emerging among the EU institutions to reject Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's ambassadors-designate to the European Union, after the country's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, called on the bloc not to recognise Mugabe's unilateral appointment.

Turkey and Ukraine should seek to obtain a status with the EU similar to the one Norway has at present, becoming fully associated members of the internal market and the Schengen border-free area, Elmar Brok, a leading MEP, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a German political veteran who served as foreign minister throughout the 1970s and 80s, says Europe should assume its role on the global stage if it wants its future diplomatic service to work. He spoke to EurActiv.de in an interview alongside Joschka Fischer, another ex-German foreign minister, and former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel.

An attempt by the European Union to upgrade its status at the United Nations hit a road-block yesterday (14 September) when the General Assembly voted to postpone consideration of the changes Brussels wants.

Poland appears to have changed its policy of unconditional support for Georgia against Russian intimidation, a recent interview given by the country's president suggests. Warsaw has also reportedly abandoned hope of securing the position of EU Ambassador to Tbilisi, the Polish press reports.

Bulgaria is ready to host direct talks between Israel and Palestine, diplomatic sources told EurActiv. The development follows a visit to the EU newcomer by the president of the Jewish state and comes after the Palestinian president had signalled his desire for such a breakthrough.

The European Parliament is giving EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton a hard time, as political group leaders yesterday (10 June) delivered a clear message that they disliked her proposals for the European Union's new diplomatic service. They insisted that it must be attached to the European Commission, otherwise the Parliament will veto its financing.

A third of the diplomats who will staff the future European External Action Service (EEAS) will come from the EU's member states by 2013, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The European Union must quickly push ahead with forming its own diplomatic service or it risks falling behind the likes of China and India in the world order, top diplomats warned yesterday (26 April) after EU ministers reached "political agreement" on European External Action Service (EEAS), which still awaits MEPs' green light.

With the clock ticking ahead of a 30 April deadline to reach agreement on the European External Action Service (EEAS), the leaders of the European Parliament's three largest political groups warned against putting the future diplomatic corps under the thumb of EU member states.

There will be procedures for recruiting staff at all levels of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and diplomats will not simply be catapulted in from capitals, João Vale de Almeida, director-general for external relations at the European Commission, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Despite opposition from the European Parliament, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton unveiled on 25 March a proposal that puts a French-style secretary-general and two deputies at the centre of the EU's future diplomatic service.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's new foreign affairs chief, sailed through a hearing in the European Parliament yesterday (11 January), clearing the way for her confirmation when the new European Commission is voted upon later this month.

The Treaty of Lisbon introduces two new European top jobs: a high-profile president to chair EU summit meetings for a two-and-a-half year term and a revamped foreign policy chief. However, selecting the right people to fill these positions proved a politically-sensitive task.

The EU's new foreign policy initiative, the Eastern Partnership (EaP), was written in "ambitious terms", but must show greater sensitivity to the intricacies of its target region, argues Helen Wallace of the London School of Economics (LSE) in a paper for the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).

"Afghanistan reveals Europe's incapacity to formulate coherent collective security strategies and dedicate the resources required to implement them," writes Fabrice Pothier, director of Carnegie Europe, in an April paper.

EU countries are "better placed to serve transatlantic security interests within the NATO alliance than as members of a supra-national and anti-democratic institution," writes Sally McNamara, senior policy analyst for EU affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom, in an October paper for the Heritage Foundation.

Moves to establish a European External Action Service (EEAS) and give the Union a stronger role in world affairs have been put on hold after the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty on 12 June, said EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, answering a EurActiv enquiry today (11 July).

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.

A discussion at the Centre for European Policy Studies has focused on the way the EU's basic values appear in its foreign policy. The US President's recent visit to Brussels provided the background to this meeting.