Ministers to hold talks on diplomatic corps

EU development ministers will have their first debate on the European External Action Service with Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on Monday (10 May).

Ashton’s proposal for the service, which she unveiled on 25 March, assigned responsibility for setting overall strategies and funding allocations for development policy to the EEAS, and the implementation of such strategies to the European Commission. This reflected near-consensus among member states following a turf war with the Commission, which wanted to retain desks dealing with developing countries.

The proposal has implications for the two Commission services currently involved in development aid – the directorate-general for development, and EuropeAid.

UK suggestions

Andris Piebalgs, the European commissioner for development, wants to refocus the development directorate as a ‘thought leader’ on development policy and has suggested that the future head of the EEAS should have a third deputy to oversee development policy-making, according to diplomats.

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A UK list of suggestions to clarify the role of the EEAS in development includes a proposal to merge the development department and EuropeAid. According to the UK memorandum, the position of director-general for development – currently held by Stefano Manservisi – is to be transferred from the Commission to the EEAS, but will remain accountable to Piebalgs.

A diplomat said that the clarifications requested by the UK would not require changes to Ashton’s proposal but could take the form of assurances or a declaration.

The college of commissioners will on 15 June consider the modifications to this year’s budget made necessary by the establishment of the EEAS.

? The European Court of Auditors last week (29 April) adopted an opinion on the EEAS’s role in implementing Commission funds such as those in development, saying it was “concerned” by the fact that officials from a different institution would act as authorising officers.

The report said that heads of the EU’s delegations abroad, who report both to the EEAS management and the Commission, could encounter “conflicts of priorities”. MEPs said the report reinforced their view that the EEAS should be made part of the Commission. MEPs have threatened to delay decisions on the new service if their demands are not met.