Parliament twists Ashton’s arm over EEAS

The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament has noted the report from the Parliament's three rapporteurs, Elmar Brok, Guy Verhofstadt and Roberto Gualtieri on the proposed European External Action Service, June 2010.

While there had been some agreement on some aspects of the establishment of the EEAS there had so far been no agreement on the nature of the EEAS. The Parliament believed that the Service should be more communitarian than inter-governmental in character, and this is why the Parliament would insist that it is attached to the European Commission.

The Parliament believed that in these times of increasing intergovernmentalism it was of the utmost importance to ensure that community policies are not intergovernamentalised, ensuring the communitarian nature of the EEAS was essential.

On this front, the discussions in the quadrilogue had not yet been fully fruitful. The Parliament would continue to strongly defend this position.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: European External Action Service (EEAS) http://www.europeansources.info/record/council-decision-of-26-july-2010-establishing-the-organization-and-functioning-of-the-european-external-action-service-2010-427-eu/

European Parliament: Press Release, 10.6.10: The Conference of Presidents on the External Action Service http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/030-75815-161-06-24-903-20100610IPR75814-10-06-2010-2010-false/default_en.htm

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