According to a report by the British 'Financial Times' on September 2, the European Commission is planning to split the European External Action Service (EEAS) and incorporate some of its functions into the Commission itself. This move is in response to requests from France and Germany, which wish to carry out major reforms to the Brussels foreign policy mechanism by the end of this year.
According to people who attended relevant briefing sessions, senior EU officials have begun studying which functions of the EU Agency for External Action can be absorbed by existing departments of the European Commission.
The European External Action Service is the department responsible for the EU's foreign relations. It is led by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and is responsible for coordinating the foreign policies of its member states. The current High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is former Estonian Prime Minister Kárss.
In recent years, some EU member states have become increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the EU External Action Service. These countries believe that, in the face of challenges such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the war in Iran, Trump's aggressive foreign policy, and the increasing use of economic means in diplomatic negotiations, the EU External Action Service struggles to effectively coordinate responses from member states.
According to reports, the purpose of this reorganization plan is to reduce overlapping functions and to better coordinate the European Union’s diplomatic work with the powers held by the European Commission in areas such as trade, aid, digital regulation, and technology. Officials from the office of the Secretary-General of the European Commission, as well as those from legal and budget departments, were involved in discussions regarding this plan.
Meanwhile, as member states demand that Brussels tighten its spending in the next round of EU budget negotiations, this reform also takes into account cost savings.
Sources familiar with the matter indicate that this reform is not intended to merge the EU External Action Service entirely into the European Commission, turning it into a massive foreign policy department. Instead, the existing functions of the Service are to be split among different departments in order to improve efficiency.
It is said that the streamlined European Union External Action Service will remain independent of the European Commission and will be responsible for areas such as EU peacekeeping missions and military training.
Those in support of reform believe that integrating most of the functions of this institution, which has an annual budget of up to 1 billion euros, into the European Commission would make EU foreign policy more coherent, reduce functional overlap, and lower external spending when member states request cuts to the next round of the EU’s common budget.
EU diplomats said that ideally, the general framework for the transfer of powers could be agreed upon in December this year. However, people familiar with the matter noted that the plan is still in its early stages and may change in the future.
Sources familiar with the situation expect that the plan will be further refined before next month’s EU leaders' summit. France and Germany, the two largest economies in the EU and countries with significant diplomatic influence, hope to use this summit to discuss reform proposals.
Since this summer, France and Germany have been accelerating the pace of reforms. France first proposed several options for reshaping the EU's foreign policy mechanism in an internal document. Subsequently, France and Germany issued a joint statement in July, calling for broader discussions on this issue within the EU.
This week, a joint French-German document further called for ‘the functional departments of the EU's External Action Service to be largely integrated into the structure of the European Commission’.
According to reports, France and Germany advocate for strengthening Carra's authority through this reform, giving her greater oversight over more foreign affairs that fall under the EU Commission.
An EU official stated that Karras "will discuss with foreign leaders how to improve the efficiency of the EU's external actions," and added, "Any decision regarding the future of the EU's external action agency can only be made under the approval of member states."
As of now, Karas has not made any public comments regarding possible changes to this institution.
