A legal-institutional perspective on the European External Action Service

Abstract

This article provides a legal perspective on the new European External Action Service (EEAS), and positions this new body in the reshuffled institutional balance of EU external relations. To that end, the paper examines the EEAS's legal nature as compared to that of Council, Commission, their support services and EU agencies, and seeks to define the EEAS's sui generis status in the EU institutional set-up. Some relevant questions are: What are the implications of its absence of legal personality, what does its "functional autonomy" from the Council and Commission imply, what are its formal powers - if any, and could the EEAS be drawn into proceedings before the Court of Justice? In answering those questions, this article then examines to what extent the legal-institutional choices on the structure of the EU External Action Service reflects the age-old tension entrenched in EU external relations law: the EU's nature as an internally diverse entity, which seeks to present a coherent Union voice to the world.

The European External Action Service: Torn Apart Between Several Principals or Acting as a Smart ‘Double-agent’?

“…Smith 2012). Legal scholars (Blockmans and Hillion 2013;Cardwell 2012;Van Vooren 2010) have discussed the place and role of the EEAS in the EU's institutional architecture and its formal legal status and competences. In addition, some work has been done on organizational questions (Bátora 2013;Henökl 2014;Ongaro 2012;Wisniewski 2012) as well as on recruitment and integration of national diplomats (Duke and Lange 2013;Pomorska 2013a, 2013b;Murdoch et al 2014;Novotná 2014;Spence 2012).…”