By Martin Banks - 8th June 2010
ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt says parliament is "not prepared to cut a deal at any price" in order to push through agreement on the EU's new diplomatic service.
The former Belgian prime minister said, "Parliament wants to find an agreement as soon as possible so that the EAS can start up.
"However, we are not prepared to cut a deal at any price. If the negotiations go well, it should be possible to come to a political agreement by the end of the month even if the legislative work on the modification of the financial and staff regulation will take longer."
His comments come in an exclusive article for the next issue of The Parliament Magazine.
In many ways, his article exposes the full scale of the divisions between parliament and other EU institutions over the proposed new diplomatic service.
Verhofstadt is one of three MEPs drafting parliament's official response to the EAS and on Tuesday was involved in the latest round of talks with EU high representative Catherine Ashton and representatives from the commission and council.
In the article, to be published next week, he said, "The main problems are about where the EAS is placed in budgetary terms. Parliament's resolution of October 2009 stated that the EAS must be 'budgetarily and administratively linked to the commission'. We still believe that this is essential."
"Furthermore, parliament believes that the current proposal does not provide for a coherent development policy - by splitting responsibilities between the EAS and the commission."
Verhofstadt, an MEP since last June, writes, "The best solution would be for EU commissioners working closely with Ashton, such as Andris Piebalgs and Stefan Füle, to represent her.
"However, the council does not accept that a commissioner can represent her when dealing with CFSP matters. So parliament has proposed that she has political deputies that can represent her."
He paints a somewhat pessimistic picture of an immediate solution to the impasse, saying, "Catherine Ashton needs to have an affective service. The current proposal does not really provide for this."
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