The first year of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has
already elicited much comment, both internally and externally.
This contribution briefly reviews the nature of this commentary and
then suggests some possible short-term ‘wins’ for the Service, as
well as some challenges that will require a longer-term perspective.
The main shorter-term issue considers the need to create stronger
linkages and priorities between existing strategies and to start the
difficult process of melding a common mindset within the Service.
The longer-term challenges revolve around recruitment, balance and
resources. The latter is particularly important in order to enable the
delegations to assume their full roles. The barrage of criticism that
greeted the EEAS’s first birthday is also a commentary on how critical
the role of the Service is to achieving the core goals of the Lisbon
Treaty in external relations; namely, to aim towards more coherence,
effectiveness and visibility