Strategic Panorama 2009 - 2010 - IEEE

Aníbal Villalba Fernández
CFSP and contribute to the definition of policies by delivering opinions to
the Council at the request of the Council or on its own initiative. In this
aspect the Treaty of Lisbon also adds the initiative of the HR.
The PSC shall also monitor the implementation of agreed policies,
without prejudice to the powers of the Presidency, the Commission and
the HR. Under the responsibility of the Council—and also of the HR since
the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty—the PSC shall exercise the political
control and strategic direction of crisis-management operations.
The Treaty of Lisbon envisages that the PSC shall be chaired by a
representative of the High Representative.
The network of European correspondents
The network of European correspondents, which was set up at the
time of European political cooperation, is composed of the heads of CFSP
departments in the Member States. They assist the political directors and
constitute points of contact between the capitals of the Member States, for
which purpose they manage the COREU network. They also accompany
the ministers of foreign affairs at informal meetings in Gymnich format (5).
The Treaty of Lisbon has discarded the CFSP classification that distinguished
between common strategies, common positions and joints actions
and refers more generally to «decisions», although in practice the difference
is limited, as the new name does not substantially affect the decision-making
process and because the new classification follows the previous model.
It thus refers to:
– Decisions of the European Council that define the Union’s strategic
interests, establish its objectives and define the general guidelines
of the CFSP, including for matters with defence implications (article
26 TEU – Lisbon). These decisions correspond to the common strategies
of the TEU – Nice.
– Decisions that define the Union’s approach to a specific matter of
a geographical or thematic nature (article 29 TEU – Lisbon). These
decisions correspond to the common positions of the TEU – Nice.
(5) The «Gymnich», which is held once every six months, takes its name from the German
castle which hosted the first meeting of this kind (1974) of foreign ministers of the
European Union, then presided by Germany. This informal meeting—in that it allows a
free, in-depth exchange of opinions between participants—does not give rise to conclusions
strictly speaking, but allows European diplomacy to prepare its positions with a
view to the following months.
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