The High Representative coordinates and represents the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The post is based in the European Commission and chairs the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Union. It is currently held by Catherine Ashton and aims to allow the Union to express itself with greater visibility and coherence.
- The High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) office was created by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997.
- Under the Lisbon Treaty, the posts of High Representative for the CFSP and European Commissioner for External Relations were merged under the new title.
- The post was based in the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU and filled by its Secretary General. Jürgen Trumpf was the first High Representative, but he stepped down a month later in favor of Javier Solana, who held it for 10 years.
- Under the European Constitution - rejected by France and The Netherlands in referenda - this post would have been named Union Minister for Foreign Affairs.
- Ever since its creation, the Union's rapid expansion presented it with growing decision-making difficulties. Too many decisions required unanimity and its voting system was overly conservative. Several accords sought to streamline the Union's qualified majority voting, but real progress wasn't made until Lisbon.
- Catherine Margaret Ashton was appointed by the European Council on November 19th and assumed the post on December 1st, 2009.
- She speaks and negotiates for the EU on Foreign Policy insofar there is agreement among member-states.
- Her position also heads or presides over several other European institutions:
- European Commission (Vice President)
- Foreign Affairs Council (President)
- European Defence Agency (President)
- External Action Service (Head)
- Western European Union (Sec-Gen)
- EU Special Representatives (Coordinator)
- EU Institute for Security Studies (Chair)
- The High Representative prepares initiatives for the Council and reports to Parliament.
- She oversees the progressive framing of a Union defence policy, leading to a common European defence so long as agreement exists between member states.
- Ashton will mainly be responsible for so-called implementation missions (peace-keeping), since the Union sees NATO responsible for its territorial defence (peace-making).
- The post intends to put a "name and face" on EU policy abroad and help the EU become a capable, coherent and strategic global actor.
- Ashton will proactively stimulate consensus between member states and the Commission, as she wrote in a statement to the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
- She will be scrutinized intensely during the first months of her tenure due to concern over her lack of foreign policy experience and her perceived low-key character.
- The External Action Service has yet to take shape. It will essentially serve as a foreign ministry for the Union, a Diplomatic Corps under authority of the High Representative.
- Elimination of the Pillars and the rotating presidency by the Lisbon Treaty, along with the introduction of the External Action Service, an EU Public Prosecutor and the Citizens's Initiative is hoped to increase the Union's democratic character, efficiency and resolve.
- Ashton will be able to articulate even ambiguous positions created by disagreements among member states.
Office holders
Catherine Ashton
Baroness Ashton was born in a working class family (her father worked the coal mines) on March 20th, 1956 in Upholland, Lancashire in the United Kingdom. She graduated as a Bachelor of Science in Sociology in 1977 and went on to work for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work. She was later made a life peer as Baroness Ashton of Upholland at the request of Tony Blair. She then chaired the Health Authority in Hertfordshire until 2001, when she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education and Skills. She later held the same post in the Department for Constitutional Affairs and, in 2007, the Ministry of Justice.
Gordon Brown subsequently appointed her to the Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords, making her responsible for passing the Lisbon Treaty through the House. Finally, her turbulent career took her to the European Commission as the UK's European Commissioner in Brussels. She was formally approved by the European Parliament on October 2nd, 2008 by a large majority of 538 to 40 votes. There were 63 abstentions.
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, who held the previous post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, was born on July 14th, 1942 in the Spanish capital, Madrid. Trained as a physicist, he became a minister in his home country and went on to serve as Secretary General of NATO (1995-1999).
After leaving NATO in 1999, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Council and, as such, High Representative for the CFSP. He served as the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy from October 1999 to December 2009 - slightly over a decade. During his tenure, his position became known as "Mr. Europe", as he negotiated many treaties between the Union and several Latin American en Middle Eastern countries, made substantial progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urged detainees at Guantanamo Bay be treated as POWs under the Geneva Convention. Mr. Solana was well respected by his peers, being described as an extraordinary consensus-builder and a squarer of circles with exceptional diplomatic talent.
Three treaties paving the way to Lisbon
The Union is governed by the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty; 1992). In fact, the European Union itself was established by this treaty. It divided EU policies in three main areas (called pillars), one of which is the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It has since been amended by three further accords: the Amsterdam Treaty (1997), the Nice Treaty (2001) and the Lisbon Treaty (2009), all of which are designed to streamline the workings of the EU, improve its coherence and enhance the Union's legitimacy and efficiency.
The Lisbon Treaty
The Lisbon Treaty underwent an extensive ratification process by the EU member-states and came into effect on December 1st, 2009. Provisions in the Nice Treaty prevented the EU from expanding beyond 27 members, since the EU's decision-making process would not have been able to cope with further enlargement. The Treaty of Lisbon (also Reform Treaty) effectively reforms these processes and removes the member limit.
Prominent changes include more qualified majority voting in the Council, increased involvement of the EU Parliament in the legislative process, lowering the number of Commissioners from 18 instead of the current 27, eliminating the aforementioned pillar system. It also saw the introduction of both a President of the European Council and a High Representative of the Union for CFSP. Finally, the Charter of Fundamental Rights would become legally binding.
Negotiations leading up to the Reform Treaty began in 2001 and resulted in the European Constitution. This initiative failed, however, after Dutch and French voters rejected it in 2005. This was followed by a period of reflection and review, which resulted in a "group of wise men" known as the Amato Group, to propose drafting a new treaty based on the first and fourth parts of the Constitution, amending and rewriting the Treaty on European Union. The rest of the changes the Constitution would introduce would have to be achieved through amendments to the Treaty of Rome (which established the Constitution and started its ratification process). This new agreement became known as the Lisbon Treaty.
This is a famous quote by former US foreign secretary Henry Kissinger. He is thought to have asked the question out loud during the 1970s while discussing a hypothesis in which "the world caught fire". According to the the Clinton administration, it had already moved a lot closer to an answer [May 2000]. Furthermore, the proposed combination of the posts of High Representative with that of the Euopean Commissioner for External Relations has been seen as furthering the answer to this question, as illustrated by this quote by former French President d'Estaing.
“The creation of a High Representative for foreign policy [...] would be a big change compared with the current situation. It would put an end to the double job which exists between the current function of Mr. Javier Solana, and that carried out within the Commission by Mme Benita Ferrero-Waldner [...]. One and the same person would therefore deal with problems and respond to the famous telephone calls of Henry Kissinger: I want to speak to Europe.”
