High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy


The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union. The position is currently held by Kaja Kallas.
The Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997 and entered into force in 1999, had established the position of High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. The position's purview was augmented by the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007 and entered into force in 2009, which established its current title and authorities, including a seat on the European Commission as Vice-President and the chair of the council of EU foreign ministers. The first person to hold the full title of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, inaugurated upon the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, was Catherine Ashton. Early in the first term of the post, the office holder became assisted by the European External Action Service that was set up in December 2010.

Titles

The formal title of the High Representative is "High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy". This post was previously styled as High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and, under the European Constitution, had been designated to be titled the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs. This latter title, as EU Foreign Minister or EU Foreign Chief is still applied by commentators and sections of the media as a publicly recognisable shorthand for the post. The style High Representative equates to that of High Commissioner in diplomatic circles. Since the High Representative is ex officio a Vice-President of the European Commission, the office-holder is sometimes referred to as the HR/VP.

Role

Where foreign matters are agreed between EU member states, the High Representative can speak for the EU in that area, such as negotiating on behalf of the member states. The Representative co-ordinates the work of the European Union Special Representatives as well as other appointments such as anti-terrorist co-ordinator.
Beside representing the EU at international fora and co-ordinating the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, the High Representative is:
According to proposals made in 2009 by the Swedish EU presidency, the High Representative will control the staffing and budget of the EEAS, and propose the size of budget to be allocated. The High Representative is responsible for appointing EEAS staff and for controlling general foreign policy including security initiatives and intelligence sharing. However, although the High Representative may prepare initiatives, decisions will still have to be taken by the member states in Council. The High Representative would also have to report to Parliament.
With the growth in role of the High Representative, and their exclusion from the European Council, the national foreign ministers are now uncertain of their role vs the High Representative. At an informal meeting in Finland it was mooted that they could serve as special envoys on the High Representative's behalf. This has been backed by Ashton who said that so long as the EU spoke with one voice, it did not matter who was speaking.

History

The post was introduced under the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Treaty stated that the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union should have "the function of the High Representative for the common foreign and security policy." Thus, Javier Solana became the first permanent High Representative. Initially the post was much more limited in scope than the present one created in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon.

Treaty of Lisbon

The European Constitution proposed to merge the European Commissioner for External Relations with the High Representative to create a Union Minister for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Although the Constitution failed to be ratified, its replacement, the Treaty of Lisbon, retained the change under a different name. The new High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy would still merge the External Relations Commissioner with the High Representative and, like the Constitution, would have it backed up by an External Action Service. The new role also took over other foreign affairs roles, such as chairing the Foreign Affairs Council and representing the EU in international fora, roles which were previously exercised by the foreign minister of the country holding the presidency of the European Union.
Despite the name change, many parts of the media still referred to it as a foreign minister and in negotiations it was decided that the High Representative would no longer also be the Council's Secretary-General but would be a Vice-President of the European Commission, filling the now merged Commission post. The merger of the two posts has been seen as furthering the answer to Kissinger's question:

Appointments

The High Representative is appointed by the European Council acting by qualified majority. However, in order to take up their role in the commission, in particular as a vice-president, the High Representative has to appear before Parliament for questioning and then be subject to Parliament's vote of approval on the proposed Commission.
The basic monthly salary of the High Representative is fixed at 130% of the highest grade of the EU civil service, which works out at €23,006.98. There are other allowances on top of that as all other conditions of employment for the High Representative are aligned to that of the commission.

Javier Solana Madariaga (1999–2009)

The Amsterdam Treaty introduced the post of High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy to represent the EU on the world stage. It was decided that the Secretary-General of the Council would be the High Representative. This meant that the Secretary-General at the time, Jürgen Trumpf, was the first High Representative, although he only served for a few months.
The first permanent High Representative was Javier Solana Madariaga, former Secretary General of NATO. He was appointed on 4 July 1999 at the Cologne European Council as Council Secretary-General and High Representative. He took up the post on 18 October 1999, shortly after standing down from NATO. The post had a budget of €40 million, most of which goes to Balkan operations. During his tenure, the position was expanded rapidly, with several more functions combined into the function of High Representative. From 25 November 1999 he was also appointed Secretary-General of the Western European Union, overseeing the transfer of responsibilities from that organisation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy. In 2004, his five-year mandate was renewed; he also became president of the European Defence Agency for the duration of his second term.
The Clinton administration claimed in May 2000 that Solana was the fulfilment of Henry Kissinger's famous desire to have a phone number to talk to Europe. In December 2003 Solana released the European Security Strategy, which sets out the main priorities and identifies the main threats to the security of the EU, including terrorism. On 25 March 2004, Solana appointed Gijs de Vries as the anti-terrorist co-ordinator for the CFSP, and outlined de Vries's duties as being to streamline, organise and co-ordinate the EU's fight against terrorism.
He has negotiated numerous Treaties of Association between the European Union and various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries, including Bolivia and Colombia. Solana played a pivotal role in unifying the remainder of the former Yugoslavian federation. He proposed that Montenegro form a union with Serbia instead of having full independence, stating that this was done to avoid a domino effect that might proceed from demands for independence by Kosovo and Vojvodina. Local media sarcastically named the new country "Solania".
On 21 January 2002, Solana said that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. The EU has stated that it hopes to avoid another war like the Iraqi invasion through this and future negotiations, and Solana has said the most difficult moments of his job were when the United Kingdom and France, the two permanent EU Security Council members, were in disagreement. The so-called Vilnius letter, a declaration of support by eastern European countries for the United States' aim of régime change in Iraq, and the letter of the eight, a similar letter from the UK, Italy, and six second-tier countries, are generally seen as a low-water mark of the CFSP. Solana operated as a "quiet diplomat", and found himself frequently pushed to the side in negotiations and sent on missions known to be impossible.
Solana has played an important role working toward a resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and continues to be a primary architect of the "Road map for Peace", along with the UN, Russia, and the United States in the Quartet on the Middle East. On 22 July 2004, he met Ariel Sharon in Israel. Sharon had originally refused to meet him, but eventually accepted that the EU was involved in the Road Map. Solana criticised Israel for obstructing the Palestinian presidential election of 9 January 2005, but then met Sharon again on 13 January.
In November 2004 he assisted the United Kingdom, France and Germany in negotiating a nuclear material enrichment freeze with Iran. In the same month he was involved in mediating between the two presidential candidates in the post-election developments in Ukraine, and on 21 January 2005 he invited Ukraine's new President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss future EU membership.