EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton has established a working group of senior EU officials to advise her on the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS). The move is felt to sideline the European Parliament which had demanded involvement in the EEAS' implementation, to ensure democratic accountability.

The working group includes representatives from the Commission and the Council of Ministers secretariat as well as the ambassadors to the EU from the current rotating presidency, Spain, and the next two, Belgium and Hungary. The European Parliament is not represented in the working group and had no involvement in selecting its members.

Some members of the group want to hurry the establishment of the EEAS so that it is up and running before a likely Conservative victory in the UK general election in May, which could block the EEAS' progress. But the EEAS budget has to be approved by the European Parliament, where MEPs are unlikely to give it their support if they feel they have been excluded from decision-making.

Source:

• European Voice

• Lawyers say Ashton's EEAS proposal is contrary to Lisbon Treaty
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• Establishing the EEAS in conformity with the Treaty
• EU Commission and Member States battle for control of EEAS
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• Briefing No. 48: Defining the EU's Management and Implementation of its External Actions
• Briefing No. 44: Five Compelling Reasons why to keep Development outside the EEAS