European External Action Service

1 The European External Action Service (EEAS or ‘Service’) is sometimes described as the European Union’s (EU or ‘Union’) Foreign Ministry, or as it calls itself, ‘the European Union’s diplomatic service’ (see European Union External Action). This idea emerged from the 2004 Treaty on a Constitution for Europe (‘TCE’) which never came into force, which provided that the EEAS shall assist the ‘Union Minister for Foreign Affairs’ (Art. III-296(3) TCE). 2 The size of the EEAS and its network of EU delegations is indeed comparable to the diplomatic service of a...