On 2024 discharge: General budget of the EU - European External Action Service

OPINION

The Committee on Foreign Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

1. Stresses the central role of the EEAS in diplomatic engagement and in coordinating peace efforts and humanitarian aid in an increasingly unstable international environment; acknowledges that EEAS has made strong and sustained efforts to address the lack of sufficient funds granted and exercise budgetary discipline, e.g. by cutting non-compulsory expenditure to the minimum, freezing and postponing building maintenance, infrastructure and IT projects; notes with concern that the financial situation and the budgetary constraints of the EEAS pose a major obstacle to increasing the visibility and impact of EU's external action and is deeply concerned by its serious negative consequences for the EU’s external action; underlines the need for sustainable funding solutions to support the EEAS' operations to uphold the EU's global standing;

2. Emphasises the need to modernise the EU Delegation network, particularly by strengthening the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) and the EEAS Crisis Response Centre; highlights that enhancing analytical capacity and crisis preparedness requires adequate staffing, up-to-date IT security, and sufficient administrative resources;

3. Calls on the EEAS to prioritise filling critical vacancies in Delegations, especially in locations with complex security and geopolitical challenges, and to improve transparency in recruitment processes;

4. Encourages the EEAS to strengthen internal controls and document management systems, addressing weaknesses identified by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), in particular those concerning information management and reporting from EU Delegations;

5. Underlines the need to provide adequate resources to the Strategic Communication and Foresight Division of the European External Action Service (EEAS) to effectively counter disinformation campaigns deployed as strategic tools by authoritarian and illiberal regimes, in particular the Kremlin;

6. Welcomes ECA's finding that EEAS’s coordination, both internally and with the Commission and Council, was mostly effective; further welcomes that EEAS has undertaken measures to ensure the application of procurement rules and has applied corrective actions; notes the remaining weaknesses in information management, staffing and reporting; stresses the need to address these shortcomings, including the findings of the ECA Special report 02/2024: on the coordination role of the European External Action Service; urges the EEAS to reinforce oversight over procurement in Delegations, ensuring that corrective actions taken in recent years translate into sustained improvements and reduced irregularities;

7. Welcomes the EEAS’s strengthened capacity to counter disinformation spread by hostile states and hybrid threats, including the full operationalisation of the Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) Toolbox e.g. through Information Sharing and Analysis Centre and the EU Rapid Alert System; acknowledges the EEAS's role in gathering evidence against EU-sanctioned Russian state-backed platforms, bot farms, and individuals involved in spreading disinformation and manipulating information; supports continued and effective investment in strategic communication, independent media, and civil society partnerships, particularly in Ukraine, the Middle East, including Israel and Palestine, and neighbouring regions; calls on the EEAS to step up its strategic engagement and visibility across Africa, clearly demonstrating the tangible benefits of the EU’s partnership model grounded in mutual respect, transparency and sustainability; stresses that the EEAS must assert the EU’s role and interests more effectively through coherent diplomacy, visible investment and in close coordination with the Commission, European Parliament and Member States to project a united European voice;

8. Stresses the need for the EEAS to reinforce its administrative and analytical capacity in areas of growing strategic importance, including the Arctic; calls for strengthened staff training, improved inter-service coordination, and adequate resources to support risk assessment, situational awareness and engagement with relevant partners; underlines that such capacity-building must be fully aligned with sound financial management and existing budgetary constraints;

9. Calls on the EEAS to further improve the security of EU Delegations, including cybersecurity, physical security and crisis evacuation capabilities, and to systematically report on progress and remaining vulnerabilities.

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

The rapporteur declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not include in her opinion input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION BY THE COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION