After the Lisbon Treaty had come into life, the European Union created a new-old institution called the European External Action Service. It is in fact a change of the name of the Union’s former diplomatic service and letting some fresh ethnic air into it – an addition of a new element, i.e. “experienced” diplomats from Member States’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs. As a result, the excessive organizational mess was limited (vide: two separate representations in the UN Headquarters) and the status of the service was raised (its own budget, one superior). The author presents a broad characteristic of the Union’s old and new diplomacy objectives and tries to assess its effectiveness
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