Draft speaking elements for participation in conference on New Developments in the CFSP under the Lisbon Treaty

Moscow, MGIMO-University, April 19 th 2010

Good Morning…

I would like to give some input from a practitioners perspective, since I am daily involved in the work in progress of implementing the LT. Here are my comments on the potential consequences of the LT on EU-Russia relations.

General context

Before looking into the institutional changes in more detail let me briefly recall the 4 main aims that the treaty seeks to achieve

1) A more democratic and transparent Europe

• A strengthened role for the European Parliament (co-decision in almost all policy fields)  

• A greater involvement of national parliaments  

• A stronger voice for citizens: thanks to the Citizens' Initiative  

• Relationship between the Member States and the European Union become clearer with the categorization of competences  

2) A more efficient Europe

• Effective and efficient decision-making: qualified majority voting in the Council is extended to new policy areas  

• A more stable and streamlined institutional framework: President of European Council elected for 2,5 years, direct link between Commission President and results of EP elections, etc

• Improves the EU's ability to act in several policy areas: JLS, energy, public health, climate change  

 

3) A Europe of rights and values, freedom, solidarity and security

• Democratic values: the Treaty of Lisbon details and reinforces the values and objectives on which the Union is built

• Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes legally binding: civil, political, economic and social rights.

• Solidarity between Member States in case of terrorist attack or natural or man-made disasters

• New provisions to fight terrorism and crime: the Union gets an extended capacity to act on freedom, security and justice

4) Europe as an actor on the global stage

• It is the LT's impact on the EU's external dimension that I will concentrate on in the following

• Main elements: HR/VP, EEAS, single legal personality for EU, reinforced cooperation in CSDP

 

Institutional Changes in EU external relations

1) VP/HR – the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

•  Objective: ensure that the Union acts in a coherent way with all the instruments at its disposal and does not conduct dissonant external policies

•  VP/HR has a triple function

•  Vice-President of the Commission in charge of external relations (formerly Ferrero-Waldner)

•  Mandated by the Council to conduct the CFSP (formerly Solana) .

•  Chairs the Foreign Affairs Council (formerly rotating Presidency).

•  She represents the Union in CFSP matters at her level

•  conducts political dialogue with third parties on the EU's behalf and

express the Union's position in international fora

•  By contrast, the external representation of the EU on issues other than the CFSP and on monetary matters will be ensured by the Commission

•  When the Union has defined a position on a specific subject, Member States that are also members of the UN Security Council shall request that the HR be asked to present this position in the Security Council.  

2) EEAS

•  One of the main aims of the LT is to give more coherence and more impact to EU foreign policy by streamlining structures

•  …and bringing together the many EU FP instruments – economic and political instruments, civil and military crisis management tools

•  The European External Action Service (EEAS) will help to make CFSP a reality on the ground, focusing mainly on

•  bilateral relations between the EU and third states

•  representing the EU in multilateral organizations

•  supporting the work of the Commission in tackling external challenges such as energy security, climate change and poverty

•  Aim: devise tailor made strategies geared towards individual countries, regions or broader challenges.

•  It will collaborate with the Commission to ensure seamless delivery on the ground, especially in matters of development and ENP

•  All the elements for an EEAS decision are based on three principles

1) S trict compliance with the provisions of the Treaty

2) Coherence and consistency of external action

3) Avoidance of duplication of responsibilities ( single desks and effective crisis management tools).

•  Personnel will be a mix of officials from Member States, Commission and Council secretariat

•  Timeline: Ashton has tabled proposals end March, agreed with COM, now MS and EP have to comment

3) Further institutional changes

•  EU now acquires single legal personality (article 47 TEU) :

•  EU will be able to conclude international agreements

•  In future: only 1 negotiation team, only 1 representation in third countries

•  Will strengthen the Union's negotiating power, making it more effective on the world stage and a more visible partner for third countries and international organizations

•  Changing role of the rotating presidency

•  Brussels-based v. capital-based

•  Troika no more exists

•  No presidency priorities a more collective spirit, more continuity, maybe less enthusiasm

•  European Council gains in prominence in forming overall strategic direction of FP a member states continue to play a role

•  New powers EP

•  Setup of EEAS: Financing and staff regulation, overall budget has to be approved by EP

•  Overall EU Budget: EP last say on entire budget, including international agreements

•  Trade Agreements : EP approval needed

•  More scrutiny of CFSP : HR will regularly consult EP, twice a year debates on progress in implementing CFSP and CSDP

4) Progress in CDSP: reinforced cooperation, solidarity clause, “start up” fund

 

1) General:

• ESDP turned into CSDP and fully integrated in EU treaty framework

• New CSDP is described as an integral part of the CFSP and can draw upon civilian and military assets to carry out missions outside the Union  

• Aims: "peace-keeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter”

2) Reinforced cooperation in CSDP

• Unanimous decision making remains basic principle in CSDP but reinforced cooperation possible

• Those Member States whose military capabilities fulfill higher criteria and which have made more binding commitments to one another will be able to establish "permanent structured cooperation" within the Union framework

• Cooperation on armaments, research and military capabilities will be strengthened

3) Solidarity clause

• “Jointly act in a spirit of solidarity if a member state is the object of a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster”

• Mobilise all the instruments at the EU's disposal , including military means made available by member states (Art. 222(1) Treaty of the Functioning of the EU - TFEU)
• While precise application will be decided by implementation decision by the Council in 2010…
• …It is clear that solidarity between MS has been further strengthened

4) “Rapid access” and “Start up fund” for fast finance of missions

• In response to criticism about the lack of flexibility in the CFSP budget, a new Decision (article 41.3 TEU) will be adopted ( after consulting the European Parliament ) setting out procedures for "guaranteed rapid access " to the Union's budget

• A new "start up fund" is introduced (adopted by QMV) for tasks not charged to the Union's budget (e.g. military crisis management , defence related spending)  

 

Sum up of the main institutional changes

1) LT is mainly a tool to improve the internal functioning of the EU but also has important effects on increasing effectiveness of EU on global stage

2) Main goals: Consistency, coherence and continuity

• Improve coordination between EU and MS, between MS, and among EU institutions and services

• However EU rests entity sui generis: different MS positions may continue to exist a However harmonization of different policy standpoints will become easier

a Professionalization of EU external relations

3) Change will be gradual – no big bang can be expected !

• It would be mistaken to expect too much too quickly

• Change takes time, implementation will take several months

• A reform, not a revolution!

• But potential effects for coherence and effectiveness of EU external action are considerable a we remain optimistic!  

 

Impact of LT on EU – Russia relations

1) General remarks

EU will become more operational and effective partner

•  Continuity and stability of contact persons will grow

•  Streamlined structures and single desks in EEAS will improve coherence and ensure more efficient cooperation

LT will not as such have direct consequences for substance of EU-RF relations

•  No new content in EU-RF to be expected: Plenty of good proposals on the table , now we have to put them into practice!

•  We have to become more operational, less declaratory , and start addressing issues at hand

2) Cooperation on Global threats

•  Already cooperating well on a number of issues: ATALANTA, EUFOR Tchad/RCA, Iran, North Korea

•  But can become more engaged: We should ensure better cooperation to address global challenges and common threats

•  New security order for Europe: Discussion should take place in framework of Corfu-Process

3) Conflicts in Common Neighbourhood (“Post-Soviet-Space”)

•  It is remarkable that it seems easier to jointly address global challenges than to be good neighbours (“Integrationskonkurrenz”)

•  Still many problems remain in South Caucasus, Transnistria

•  In Georgia cooperation between EUMM and Russian ground forces could be improved, Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms implemented

•  In Transnistria formal resumption of 5+2 settlement talks imperative

•  Greater cooperation in crisis management possible: exploratory talks on agreement on crisis management are currently ongoing

•  RF participation in CSDP missions very welcome, however EU will have to maintain decision making autonomy

4) Energy cooperation

•  High level of interdependence and importance for both sides

•  Enhanced Early warning mechanism is central and should be utilized whenever needed

•  Now we have to develop legal framework to enshrine principles of transparency, fair competition, reciprocity, non-discrimination that both sides agreed to already

•  Proposed Energy Charter Treaty and negotiations for New Agreement are central contexts for addressing these issues

© Michael Webb
Deputy Head of Delegation
Delegation of the European Union to Russia

* These are personal views not necessarily reflecting the official views of the European Commission.