Plans to create the European Union's first diplomatic corps came under attack Tuesday, as a coalition of development organizations said giving the corps a say over how aid is given to poor countries is in breach of the EU's Lisbon treaty, dpa reported. A blueprint for the External Action Service (EAS) was approved Monday by EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, after hours of wrangling on technical issues such as command structures, staffing and budgetary issues. In a deal that ended a fierce institutional battle, management of the EU's 30-billion-euro (41-billion-dollar) development budget will be shared between the EAS and the European Commission, which currently has sole control over it. But Oxfam, Concord, One International and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claimed that the set-up drawn up by the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, left the bloc's development policy vulnerable to undue political influence. "The role of the (EAS) under the treaties is restricted to the EU's common foreign and security policy (CFSP)," said a legal advice commissioned by the NGOs from UK firm White & Case. "Development cooperation is outside the scope of the CFSP and therefore the (EAS) has no capacity in respect of it." The NGOs urged the European Parliament, which still has to give its approval to the EAS, to threaten an appeal before the EU's Court of Justice if development policy was not handed back completely to the commission. -- SPA
