Waiting game

The European Union's Lisbon reform treaty has been in effect for about five months. Two of the biggest changes the treaty brought were the newly created position of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, a post filled by Great Britain's Catherine Ashton, and the European External Action Service (EAS), which supports the high representative in conducting foreign policy.

The EAS was meant to be up and running by the end of this month, but it is far from complete and may not be ready until fall. Setting up other areas of Ashton's office could take even longer.

As a result, clear EU stances on foreign policy issues that existed as recently as a year ago have fallen by the wayside, much to the chagrin of NGOs in Brussels. Ashton's office claims that once it is fully functional, things will move quicker, but the excuses are wearing thin.

"What we're hearing now is that this won't finish for at least another 18 months, maybe up to two years," said David Nichols, Executive Officer of EU Foreign Policy at Amnesty International in Brussels, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

"The EU can't just completely shut up shop for up to two years whilst it tries to sort out its internal problems," he said.

Waiting for a strong response

One example that is particularly rankling at Amnesty International is the EU's stance on the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, 2009 was the first year since they began keeping records where no instances of the death penalty were recorded in Europe.

However, two men were put on death row at the beginning of last year in Belarus, the last European and Central Asian country to still allow the death penalty. In 2009, the EU came out strongly against executing the two men. But in early 2010, the EU was silent on the issue.

That changed in mid-March, when the two men were quietly executed in Minsk. Eleven days later, the EU issued a statement, which Nichols called "shockingly bad."

He lists flaws in the document, from leaving out the men's names to failing to mention that their families had not been informed of the execution.

"Completely different from the kind of statements that were being made last year," said Nichols. "It signifies the fact that the issue is no longer at the top of the EU's agenda."

Lack of engagement

Part of the problem is that Ashton's office and the EAS remain works in progress, but EU member states also deserve some of the blame.

You can't put everything on the shoulders of [Ashton] in terms of this inaction," said Lotte Leicht, the EU Director of Human Rights Watch, in an interview with Deutsche Welle. "It's really also member states. They were the ones who convinced citizens throughout Europe that the Lisbon Treaty was the answer to all the pains of the EU."

The Lisbon Treaty actually calls on member states to take more of a leadership role in shaping foreign policy, but Leicht says this has yet to materialize.

Instead, political wrangling over issues such as which nations receive what posts in the new foreign affairs office is bringing EU foreign policy to a standstill. According to Leicht, this has resulted in a number of cases - such as monitoring elections in Sudan - where the EU has not been maintaining its previous positions.

Progress or politics?

In theory, the Lisbon Treaty created the necessary instruments to strengthen the EU's presence on the global stage. But in practice, the office of the High Representative and the EAS will only be as effective as the people selected to run them.

If the EAS is staffed by qualified people with experience in their fields, then the future of EU foreign policy seems brighter. But if more emphasis is placed on politics, such as giving candidates from certain countries preference, then things could get worse.

"If more attention is devoted to who is getting what, based on passports rather than expertise," says Leicht, "then I'm afraid this External Action Service will not be a blessing, but rather a curse."

Author: Matt Zuvela

Editor: Gregg Benzow