Poles in European External Action Service

Z Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej

POLES IN EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE – the European External Action Service (EEAS) is an EU diplomatic service responsible for the external relations, established in 2010 to ensure the coherence and effectiveness of the EU foreign policy and the EU’s growing role in the world (legal basis – the Lisbon Treaty). The task of the EEAS is broadly understood support for the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the conduct of common foreign and security policy and common security and defence policy, as well as in the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Council and Vice-President of the European Commission. The EEAS also supports the president of the European Council and the European Commission in their external relations tasks. The EEAS is represented by the High Representative and current work is managed by the Secretary General and his three deputies. The EEAS has a network of 139 delegations and offices around the world. One third of the staff of the EEAS comes from the national diplomatic services of the member states, and 2/3 are the permanent EU officials. The EEAS is made up of employees from the General Secretariat of the Council and the European Commission, representatives of national diplomacy and local staff in the EU delegations in third countries, the so-called delegacies. As of 2016, 4252 people were employed. Of these, 1931 are employed in the Head Office in Brussels and 2321 in the EU delegations and offices abroad. In addition to permanent officials, national diplomats and assistants, the institution employs contract staff and national experts. The number of Poles employed in the EEAS has been growing steadily, with 86 employed in 2012 and in 2016 – 115 of Polish citizens (59 in the Headquarters in Brussels, 26 in the EU delegations, 28 as national experts and 2 in Junior Professionals in Delegations programme). As of 2016, Poles hold the following positions considered the most important ones in the EEAS Headquarters: director of security policy and conflict prevention, chief advisor/special envoy for disarmament and non-proliferation, Chairman of the Asia and Oceania Working Group, and head of the Human Resources and Coordination in the Budget and Administration Department, they also lead the EU delegations to the UN agencies in Rome and the Holy See, Armenia, Djibouti, in India and Jamaica. Polish citizens are heads of Political Departments in the EU delegations in Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Senegal and Mauritius. A Pole is also the deputy head of the political department at the EU delegation in Washington [ T. Kownacki ].

Literature: Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych, Informacja nt. stanu zatrudnienia polskich obywateli w strukturach UE w 2015 r. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Information on the employment status of Polish citizens in the EU structures in 2015], February 2016 ■ R. Fromuszewicz, D. Liszczyk, Personel Europejskiej Służby Działań zewnętrznych do przeglądu? Bilans i wnioski z dotychczasowej polityki kadrowej [Staff of the European External Action Service for review? Balance and conclusions from the HR policy to date], Warszawa 2012.

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