EUROPE’S foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has emphasised the importance of the EU’s new diplomatic service to her vision of the EU’s “stronger, more credible” foreign policy.
“Right now we have a chance to build what many across Europe have long wanted, a stronger more credible European foreign policy”, and the 6,000-strong European External Action Service (EEAS) would be key to this, Baroness Ashton told members of the European Parliament in an address yesterday.
She also acknowledged the internal tensions within the three EU institutions in setting up the EEAS. “Any time you create something new, there will be resistance. Some prefer to minimise perceived losses rather than maximise collective gains. I prefer to see it differently,” she said.
Priorities for the EEAS would be the ability to plan and conduct military operations, to develop ways to co-ordinate civilian operations and to link with organisations such as the UN and Nato.
Baroness Ashton outlined her foreign policy vision, saying it was “impossible to state how important this moment is” and that it was a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.
The EU’s approach to the western Balkans was a model for what the EU strategy should be, she said. One of her objectives was to increase stability and security in the countries bordering the EU. She also aimed to have a network of strategic relations between key countries and organisations.