EU External Action Service (Hansard, 13 July 2004)

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, we welcome the proposal to establish a European external action service to be set up following ratification of the constitutional treaty. The service would support the work of a new EU foreign Minister and would draw staff from the Commission and the Council secretariat as well as secondees from member states.

§ Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Can I encourage the Government to publish a brief Green Paper on how they see the European Union external action service developing? The Sun and the Daily Mail are already talking about a taking-over of the British diplomatic service. A Green Paper might, for example, include reference to the useful sharing of facilities that we already have with the German Government and others and a recognition that when there are more than 190 states in the UN it is very difficult for us to have resident missions in all of them. Is a Green Paper a useful idea?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, it may be a very useful idea in due course. But if we produced Green Papers to refute every single inaccuracy published by the Sun and the Daily Mail—which are not alone in publishing inaccuracies—we should be littered with Green Papers all around Whitehall.
The way in which the external action service will be set up and operated will be discussed in detail after the 29 October signing of the treaty. Then of course there will be a great deal of interaction between the Commission and member states about the exact way in which the external action service should operate. But I think that the noble Lord's idea of a Green Paper is excellent.

§ Lord Wright of Richmond
My Lords, is the Minister aware that some 15 years ago when I was still head of the Diplomatic Service I received a delegation of French parliamentarians? One of them asked me whether I thought that at the turn of the century there would still be an individual British diplomatic service. I replied that I was almost certain that there would be, but that I was totally certain that there would still be a French diplomatic service.

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, indeed, I was not aware that the noble Lord had received a French delegation. I am very glad that he gave such a robust response. Of course, there is no suggestion that the external action service would replace national diplomatic representation because the draft treaty states: This service shall work in cooperation with the diplomatic services of the Member States", and, The diplomatic missions of the Member States and the Union delegations in third countries and at international organisations shall cooperate". 1133 I think that makes it very clear that these will be separate.

Lord Renton
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that a European Union external action service may require the use of force? If that is so, would not its responsibilities overlap with those of the United Nations, NATO and, indeed, our own Armed Forces?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, no. I do not think that is true. The common foreign and security policy will proceed only on the basis of a unanimous vote. That was one of the red lines the Government set themselves in the drafting of the recent treaty. That has been clearly maintained. As the noble Lord may recall, the European security and defence policy (ESDP) similarly means that national governments will have to take decisions over any decision to use force.

§ Lord Howell of Guildford
My Lords, following the question posed by the noble Lord, Lord Wright of Richmond, has the Minister received any expression of concern from Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff or the diplomatic corps about the dangers of overlap between the new external service and the existing national diplomatic services? Is there not some concern that as there is no common European foreign policy—indeed, we disagree quite strongly with many of our neighbours on major and central foreign policy issues—it will be very difficult for this new diplomatic service, which, in effect, is what it will be, to be effective and produce a combined view in areas where all the member states disagree?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, I have not received any representations of that nature. I am not suggesting to your Lordships that there will not be some concerns. I appreciate the point made by the noble Lord. It is important to ensure that there is not duplication of effort. There will be further discussion about how the European external action service will be established. I do not expect those discussions to start until at least the end of this year. I remind the noble Lord, as regards his worries in relation to the common foreign and security policy, that it was the Maastricht Treaty that introduced the concept of such a policy.

§ Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, can the Minister confirm that the British Government already share some facilities in embassies in third countries with a number of European governments? Are the Government considering any interim measures that might extend that useful way of saving money and extending effectiveness?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, we share buildings only. The whole point is that we do not have common embassies, but we do look at co-location. That is a continuing process. I have no reason to believe that such co-location projects will not be possible in the future.