The European External Action Service (EEAS) is facing an unprecedented internal blockade and identity crisis 15 years after its establishment. Under the leadership of Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the service is burdened by a structural power struggle between the growing geopolitical role of the European Commission and the national governments that wish to maintain their foreign policy sovereignty.
“There should be less intrigue between the European Commission and the External Action Service,” stated Urmas Paet, former Estonian Foreign Minister and current Member of the European Parliament. “It really looks ridiculous, given the pressing issues worldwide.” These tensions indicate that the compromise that led to the creation of the EEAS under the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 is increasingly under pressure.
The EEAS was designed as a middle ground to coordinate diplomacy on behalf of EU governments, independent of the European Commission, but not strong enough to threaten national foreign ministries. The current situation raises fundamental questions about whether the EU’s foreign policy machinery is fit for today’s challenges.
“It has always been difficult because it’s a bit like a platypus,” said James Moran, a former EU ambassador and now an associate senior research fellow at CEPS, a Brussels think tank. This metaphor highlights the complicated position of the EEAS within the institutional architecture of the EU.
