After months of institutional power struggles and volleys of bad press, the European External Action Service (EAS), created under the Lisbon Treaty, is finally set to take shape under the Belgian EU Presidency with the recruitment of staff to the new diplomatic service. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will have to fill the top jobs this autumn if she is going to reach her personal goal of bringing the service into action by the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, on 1 December 2010.

Efforts to date have centred on agreeing the text of the ‘decision’ document, which will form the legal basis of the new service. Now Parliament has added its agreement to that of the Commission and Council, the second half of 2010 will be devoted to sifting candidates for the higher echelons of the EAS: the three secretaries-general, the directors-general, the heads of overseas delegations and any changes to be made within the list of EU special representatives.

Thirty-two posts have already been advertised for heads of delegations under an exceptional agreement between Ashton and the Commission to fill the most urgently needed positions. Diplomatic sources told Europoliticsthe response was overwhelming, with hundreds of applications for each mission. Ashton was interviewing throughout July with a view to making the first announcements in September or October.

A further 22 heads of delegation will be appointed in November under the 2011 rotation, making a total of 54 new heads of delegations starting work during the Belgian Presidency. It will be these men and women who will, to a very large extent, constitute the outside world’s first contact with the EAS and shape its success on the ground.

Recruitment for the first posts will focus on the layer of civil servants immediately below Ashton within the organisational structure: the three secretaries-general, one of whom is an executive secretary-general with slightly more seniority, and the directors-general, including a new director-general post for budget and administration, created to placate the European Parliament’s concerns about budgetary oversight.

The post-Lisbon shake-up extends notably to the EU special representatives’ (EUSRs) posts, which EAS sources estimate will be cut by 50% as much of their work will now be undertaken by the new service. The safest jobs are likely to be those addressing regional issues, where a given country desk would not be able to take over the work alone, notably in Africa or the Caucasus. Indeed, some regional EUSR posts may even be created, such as a Western Balkans envoy.

In total, 1,100 staff are planned to bring the service into existence, with around 900 being transferred from the Commission and Council Secretariat and 200 being new recruits from national diplomatic services. After the initial phase, an increasing number will come from member states.