Europe's Diplomatic Background

Back in 1972 when Ireland voted to become a member of the then nine-nation EEC, the bloc’s External Service was only just beginning to develop.

At that time around 150 European Commission staff were carrying out mainly development and information functions in almost 30 consular missions around the world.

Europe’s official relationships with external nations can be traced back as far as 1952 when a dispatch was sent in the name of US President Harry Truman to the first President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), Jean Monnet, confirming full US diplomatic recognition of the forerunner of the European Union.

Three years later the ECSC opened its first diplomatic mission in London and when the EEC was established under the Treaty of Rome in 1957 a new need for overseas representation emerged.

The treaty created a development fund called FEDOM which was designed to deliver aid over five years to the overseas countries and territories of the six founding EEC member states, most of which were in Africa. The Treaty of Rome also gave birth to the European Commission, and one of its early tasks was to establish diplomatic missions to manage the FEDOM funds.

As the former colonial African nations benefiting from FEDOM gained independence from European nations during the ‘60s and ‘70s they in turn established diplomatic missions in Brussels.

The Commission stopped short of delivering a full diplomatic service and instead continued to create temporary missions for development cooperation under a new body, the European Agency for Cooperation (EAC).

However, by the early ‘70s it was becoming clear that Europe’s missions and delegations had a vital role to play beyond just supervising development aid delivery.

Globalisation was increasing the flow of goods around the world and more delegations were opened in developed nations to cater for Europe’s growing responsibilities in external trade policy.

These missions were administered by the Commission’s External Relations Directorate General (DG) and during the ‘70s and ‘80s their diplomatic status was upgraded to cater for an ever increasing demand for information and services.

The fall of communist regimes in Europe in the late ‘80s saw the EU establishing new aid programmes to help the raft of newly independent states.

Missions were opened to assist with delivery of these programmes and when the European Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) was introduced in 1993 under the Maastricht Treaty the role of External Services was further strengthened.

As the European Union grew into a 27 Member State entity it became necessary to improve External Services and in January 2010, following ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, all the Commission delegations became official European Union delegations, representing not just the Commission but the EU as a whole.

Lisbon also allowed for a new European External Action Service to be established and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to be appointed to lead the department.

What the EEAS does

The EEAS is responsible for maintaining diplomatic relations between the EU and the rest of the world. There are now 136 EU delegations dotted around the globe, each operating in much the same way as national embassies.

These delegations don’t replace the embassy services of Member States like Ireland, but work in tandem with them to ensure the EU speaks with one voice on issues that affect all European citizens.

The EEAS represents the key aims of the EU’s external policies, which support global stability, promote human rights and democracy, seek to spread prosperity and encourage the enforcement of basic rule of law and good governance.

Through the EEAS the EU’s work with international partners on problems as diverse as climate change, terrorism, drugs, energy and poverty are being coordinated more effectively than before.

Initiatives that support development in neighbouring countries and EU candidate nations will be managed by the EEAS and the new body will also have an important role to play in promoting worldwide cooperation on education, health and economic equality.

As well as diplomatic relations with the world’s nations the EEAS also manages the EU’s security and defence policies. The EU’s Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) must be agreed by all member states who can decide together to launch civilian or military missions to ensure peace and security in troubled regions.

This is a sensitive policy area for Ireland but under Irish law there’s a ‘triple lock’ rule that means no Irish soldier can participate in any EU mission without a United Nations mandate, Government authorisation and Dáil approval.

Another function of the EEAS is to coordinate the activities of Europe’s joint information gathering service which is called the EU Joint Situation Centre (SITCEN). SITCEN monitors global events and issue alerts in cases of natural disasters or potential threats to global security.

All EU member states share intelligence information with SITCEN, which in turn cooperates with similar agencies around the world to try and prevent events that put lives at risk. EEAS staff work with representatives from the Commission, the Council and Member States to agree a common response to emergency issues as they arise.

The EEAS also acts as the EU’s voice on topics of global concern like terrorism, climate change and human rights and deals with relations with international bodies such as the UN and the G20.