Tannock questions mounting cost of EU diplomatic service
Posted, February 01, 2012 @ 17:00
Charles Tannock, Conservative foreign affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, today challenged Baroness Ashton over the mounting structural costs of her EU External Action Service (EAS).
The London MEP said the service was going to cost in the region of £22 million a year more to run than promised, yet it was failing to perform effectively because its resources were focused on outdated priorities.
He asked Lady Ashton, the EU's British Vice President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to explain the extra cost when she faced MEPs' questions in Brussels today.
Lady Ashton originally set up the EU's diplomatic service the EAS saying it would be cost neutral. But last month it was revealed not only that she was seeking extra spending power of more than €25 million for 2012, putting the total bill above £400 million, but that the extra money was because of a structural overspend and would be needed on an annual basis.
Dr Tannock told her: "At a time of austerity I am concerned about your demand for a further €25 million to cover an expected overspending in the EAS. It betrays a desire to grow the service beyond its existing remit and before the EAS has been able to fully prove that it brings real value added in terms of improved efficiencies which were promised at the outset, such as cuts in bilateral embassies, as a result of the new multilateral diplomatic input.
"It has also become your baby... which understandably you believe deserves more taxpayers' money.
"The European Conservatives and Reformists group has consistently argued for budget neutrality and for rationalisation of the EAS resources. The EU missions and their relative sizes are often still distributed according to historical legacies (and some cynics might argue pleasant postings) with large delegations in some parts, for example Fiji, and none in other growing regional economic hubs, such as Panama, which do not always reflect the EU´s current priorities.
"Europe cannot afford, unless real value for money is first demonstrated, to pay for a service that still pursues last-century opportunities and fails to engage with new economic and political challenges."