Invisible and unaccountable? National Representatives and Council Officials in EU foreign policy

Abstract

The role of officials from the working groups and the Council Secretariat dealing with European Union (EU) external relations has grown in recent years as a result of the increase in the thematic and geographic scope of EU foreign policy and, in particular, the development of the EU's capabilities in crisis management. The increase in competences of Brussels-based bodies has occurred in parallel to a transformation of the policy-making process that challenges intergovernmentalist assumptions about the extent of the control exercised by the member states over foreign policy-making. This contribution tracks the impact of Brusselization and socialization processes on Council officials and national representatives, which has resulted in these actors playing a role beyond that foreseen in the original delegation mandate. This inevitably raises questions of accountability in EU foreign policy.

Keywords:

• Accountability
• Brusselization
• Council Secretariat General
• Council working groups
• European foreign policy
• socialization

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous referees and the participants at the ARENA Workshop ‘Simply uploading executive power? Democracy and the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union’, Oslo, 7 October 2010, in particular Helene Sjursen and Deirdre Curtin. We are also grateful to Helen Drake, Alex Prichard, Paul Stephenson and Maarten Vink for their invaluable comments.

Notes

This was the traditional composition of the EPC working groups, involving directors from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, who would travel to the capital of the Presidency or to Brussels.

Interviews with national diplomats, Brussels, November 2005–January 2006.

Ibid.

Authors' own data, survey among national representatives to Council working groups, Brussels, October 2005–June 2006.

Ibid.

Interview with a national diplomat, Brussels, January 2006.

This view was echoed by Council Secretariat officials. Of the respondents to our survey, 80.4 per cent described the predominant mode in CFSP negotiations as one of consensus-building.

Interviews with national diplomats, Brussels, November 2005–January 2006.

Ibid.

Interview with a national diplomat, Brussels.

Authors' survey of Council Secretariat officials, Brussels, March–September 2009.

Interviews with Council Secretariat officials, 2009.

Ibid.

These fears of losing control over foreign affairs have not disappeared. They have been more than visible during the debate over the establishment of the EEAS (interviews with European Commission officials, September 2010).

Authors' survey of Council Secretariat officials, Brussels, March–September 2009.

Interview with a Council Secretariat official, Brussels, 2009.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Authors' survey of Council Secretariat officials, Brussels, March–September 2009.

Interviews with European Commission officials, Brussels, November 2010.