The influence of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the development of the European diplomatic service

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the functioning and development of the European External Action Service. The authors investigated the main stages of the evolution of the European diplomatic service from the time of the establishment of the first information offices of the European Coal and Steel Association in the fifties of the twentieth century to the formation of the European External Action Service in 2009 as part of the reform defined by the Treaty of Lisbon.
 From the moment of the establishment of the European Communities until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the European diplomatic service was carried out by information missions of the Communities and missions of the European Commission, and later by the Directorate General headed by the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Neighborhood Policy. The competence of these bodies was derived from the powers of the European Commission, therefore the sphere of activity of the European diplomatic service was limited mainly or exclusively to economic issues, and defense and military-political issues remained outside the attention of common European diplomacy.
 After the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European External Action Service was headed by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Their formal powers extend to all aspects of foreign policy, but in fact, until 2022, European diplomacy focused on economic issues and was not ready to effectively counter Russian aggression by diplomatic means. Therefore, the needs of guaranteeing the military-political security of the European Union itself, its member states and partners require a review of the institutional mechanism of the European External Action Service in terms of strengthening its role in solving military-political, defense and security issues, in particular, regarding the introduction of centralized models of adoption joint decisions.