The concept of organising a common European diplomacy materialised in one of the three main pillars of the European Union, established in the early 1990s. Its juridical legitimacy, was reflected in the Treaty of Lisbon, which gave the EU legal personality. The institution of the European External Action Service was created. It was headed by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The post was seen as attractive. It was in the political pool of EU leaders, whose MEPs formed a majority in the EP. In the hierarchy of EU posts, the heads of the EC, the RE and the EP were ranked in turn, and only the so-called “fourth take” was for the head of EU diplomacy, who was also Vice-President of the EC. This went to the Socialists from the beginning and to the Liberals from 2024. The actual activity of EU diplomacy, started from 2011. There were 131 EU delegations at the time and their number was increasing to 145 in 2024. The number of staff employed both at headquarters in Brussels and in the delegations was also increasing. Some were employed directly by the EEAS and some were delegated by the EC, sharing in the annual budget costs, which were increasing. The efficiency of the EEAS, from the outset, was subject to criticism. This intensified in 2022, after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. In 2024, an audit of the EEAS, carried out by the European Court of Auditors, showed serious shortcomings in terms of effective information management, and thus it became impossible to achieve full diplomatic coordination.
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