The impact of the European external action service of national diplomacy of small EU member states : (case study: Slovakia)

Abstract

National diplomacy has been the primary tool of states to keep peace for centuries and a fundamental means by which small European states have, since the establishment of the Westphalian order, been given legitimacy. Despite the fact that the European Union is still not a state but rather a conglomeration of smaller and bigger European states, each with their own national agendas, the EU has its own distinct integrated needs and goals. The more the international plane has gotten interconnected, the more there was a need for a united voice and position from the European Union. The establishment of the European External Action Service as an EU diplomatic corps, headed by the post of the High Representative, is meant to improve the coherence of the EU's external representation. However, where do Member States stand in this new set-up? Where are those Member States which are defined as 'small' in this thesis, and which together constitute the majority of the European Union? National diplomacies of small states, nowadays, face multiple constraints from limited financial and personnel capacity. They are faced with having to make decisions, whether resident accredited diplomatic missions are required or how to pursue a proper economic diplomacy having a limited amount of economic diplomats. That is why further research does not look for an answer to the famous Kissinger's question and analyse whether the EEAS sets up a number, where he can call, when he wants to call Europe. But rather, if small EU Member States decided to call, could they rely on receiving an answer? Despite the early stage of the EEAS, this thesis comes with an ambition to analyse if and where changes have taken place and to thus make an impact on national diplomacies of small EU Member States. An analysis of the literature on national diplomacies and their changed function in view of the various global processes as well as the European integration process provides the research with its essential base. The research is then directed to the following main diplomatic fields - analysis of the recruitment process from both a quantitative and a qualitative point of view, the build up of a new institutional diplomatic culture, modifications to and impact on the cooperation between EU delegations and national diplomatic missions in order to review diplomatic tasks and point to possible overlap, the changed role of the Presidency in relation to the EEAS as an instrument of national diplomacy based on the analysis of the Danish Presidency of 2012. Special attention is given to the fundamental element of all national diplomacies - the 'diplomat' as the human factor of diplomacy. The general findings of the analysis are then concretised in the in-depth case study of national diplomacy of Slovakia based on the changes and general direction of national diplomacy, its approach to the Lisbon Treaty and to the EEAS, recruitment efforts, analysis of the abovementioned cooperation, diplomatic brain drain vs. added value of know-how and preparation for the Council Presidency in 2016.