Hoge Vertegenwoordiger Ashton benoemd 25 nieuwe delegatiehoofden bij Europese diplomatieke dienst (en)

Brussels, 03 August 2011 - Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, announced today her intention to appoint 25 new Heads of the European Union Delegations around the world¹. These appointments are part of the 2011 rotation of heads of delegation and include 16 candidates from Member States diplomatic services, 7 from the EEAS and 2 from the European Commission.

"For the second year I have been impressed by the quality of candidates for these important posts in the External Action Service. The opportunity to represent the EU in the world continues to attract the brightest and best diplomats, which is good news for a service whose success depends on the quality of its people.

I have been able to build on the progress of last year in finding talented candidates from across the Union. The staff of the EEAS should come from all the Member States, including in the senior posts in delegations. I am determined to make further progress as we continue with the recruitment to the remaining posts in the 2011 rotation and beyond.

Achieving our goals on gender balance is also vitally important to me. The number of women in this group of appointments is up on last year, but still not good enough. I renew my call for good women candidates to put themselves forward for jobs in the service,” said HR/VP Ashton.

With these appointments, 45 of the 149 management positions in EU delegations² will be held by diplomats on secondment from national Foreign Ministries. This means that in the second year of recruitment from the three Treaty sources, 30% of management posts will be occupied by national diplomats, which is very close to the 1/3 target.

The 4 new appointments of candidates from Member States that joined the Union in 2004 and 2007, take the total number of management posts in delegations held by nationals of these countries to 21 which represents 15% of the total population. Overall there are nationals of 24 out of the 27 Member States in posts at this level.

The new appointments also include 8 women, taking the number up to 31 or 22% of the total population. This compares with only 10 women in management posts in delegations when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force in 2009.

These appointments form part of a major recruitment exercise covering posts at all levels in the new service in both delegations and headquarters. They fill existing posts in delegations as part of the regular annual rotation procedure and, as such, do not add to the resources or expenditure in delegations.

The selection procedures for a number of Head of Delegation posts in the 2011 rotation package have not yet been conclusive: Kosovo, Syria, Uzbekistan, Mali and Chile. Other procedures are ongoing including for Heads of Delegation in Egypt, FYROM, Eritrea and the Head of the EU Office in Jerusalem as well as Chargé d’Affaires posts in New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Laos and Trinidad and Tobago.

Since the start of the year the EEAS has published 6 posts in headquarters at director level, 19 posts at middle management level and a large number of other posts including 5 chairs of Council Working Groups and an advisor on Turkey.