By Andrew Gray and John Irish
BRUSSELS/PARIS, June 11 (Reuters) – French officials have suggested an overhaul of the EU’s diplomatic service that could include boosting the role for foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in a bid to improve the bloc’s response to crises, an internal paper showed on Thursday.
The paper reflects a view among EU officials and diplomats that the bloc was too slow and disjointed as it tried to react to the war in Gaza and other emergencies, amid divisions between its institutions, leaders and 27 member governments.
Diplomats say the overlapping roles of the European Commission, the bloc’s longstanding executive currently headed by Ursula von der Leyen, and the separate EU External Action Service, a diplomatic body set up in 2011 and led by Kallas, are one source of dysfunction.
The paper sets out three options for a revamp — putting all EU foreign policy under the Commission, shifting the diplomatic service’s functions to the EU Council, which represents member countries, and a strengthening of Kallas’s role as part of a broader institutional rejig.
Under the third option, Kallas would gain more power inside the Commission – becoming its “first executive vice president” and the boss of commissioners and departments responsible for a wide range of policies such as external relations, trade and economic development.
The paper, seen by Reuters, said this would mean a “reinforcement” of Kallas’ role in the Commission, where she currently serves as one of six executive vice presidents and has to share oversight of multiple policy areas.
KALLAS SAYS SHE WELCOMES DEBATE
Kallas would also have a stronger link to leaders of the EU’s national governments under this option, while the diplomatic service would take on a narrower role, focused on strategy.
The existence of the French paper – and some of the ideas it contains – was first reported by the Financial Times.
In an email to staff on Thursday, Kallas said the relationship between the EU External Action Service, the Commission and member states “has been discussed since the Service was established” but she welcomed the fresh debate.
She said the system could work better and with less duplication in Brussels. But she added that the roles and responsibilities of the EU institutions are “clearly defined” in the treaties that underpin the bloc.
“That framework remains unchanged,” she said in the email, seen by Reuters. “What matters most is that we continue to strengthen the Union’s collective ability to act.”
One diplomat said the requirement for all EU members to agree unanimously on foreign policy was a bigger impediment to action than any institutional issues.
“It’s this Brussels bubble illusion that we can reform policies by institution-building. No, we need to streamline decision-making,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, John Irish, Lili Bayer and Shivani Tanna; Writing by Andrew Gray; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Andrew Heavens)
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