France and Germany Push to Dismantle EU's Diplomatic Service

BRUSSELS, France and Germany have put the European Union's 15-year-old diplomatic corps squarely in their sights, calling for a root-and-branch restructuring of the body meant to give the bloc a single voice in the world.

In a joint statement issued following intergovernmental consultations, the two governments called for EU leaders to use an October summit to formally launch a review of foreign-policy coordination arrangements. According to reporting by the Financial Times, which broke the story, Paris and Berlin are demanding concrete reform proposals by the end of 2026.

The target is the European External Action Service, the EEAS, created in 2010 by the Lisbon Treaty to serve as the EU's diplomatic corps. It runs more than 140 delegations worldwide and sits, uncomfortably, between the European Commission, the Council of the EU, and 27 national foreign ministries. The judgment from Paris and Berlin is that this arrangement no longer works.

"It is clear that the EEAS is not functioning as it should in today's world," one senior official familiar with the negotiations told the FT. "It is dysfunctional. The problem is structural in nature, so the structure needs to be rebuilt."

The reform options circulating in European capitals are not modest. As reported by the FT and confirmed through official statements reviewed by EU Perspectives, the proposals would strip the EEAS of significant functions and return them to the European Commission, the Council, and national governments. One specific suggestion, outlined in a French government assessment shared with other member states, would limit the independence of the High Representative and weaken her control over the global delegation network. Another would transfer the preparation of sanctions lists and proposals for military missions to the Council, and hand routine diplomatic work back to the Commission.

At the centre of the institutional argument is Kaja Kallas, the Estonian politician who has served as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs since late 2024. She has not stayed quiet. In an internal letter to EEAS staff following the FT's initial reporting, Kallas said she welcomed debate about how the system could work better, while making clear she was not advocating for a weaker service.

The timing has a context that goes beyond bureaucratic tidying. According to the FT, the initiative is driven by dissatisfaction with how the EEAS responded to a sequence of major crises: the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and growing friction in relations with both Washington and Beijing. There's also a fiscal dimension. Several member states are pushing for spending cuts in Brussels, and the EEAS budget, which runs to roughly one billion euros annually, has drawn scrutiny as part of a broader EU spending review.

What makes the Franco-German push potentially decisive is the legal mechanics. As analysis published by EU Perspectives noted this week, amending the EEAS requires only a new Council decision adopted by qualified majority, after consulting Parliament and obtaining Commission consent. No treaty change is needed, the bar is lower than most observers assume.

Not everyone is comfortable with the direction of travel. Eastern and Northern European countries, particularly those that share a border with Russia, have expressed concern that concentrating foreign-policy power closer to Paris and Berlin could marginalise their security priorities. The EEAS, for all its imperfections, was designed precisely to prevent the bloc's foreign policy from becoming a projection of its two largest economies.

The Franco-German joint statement called for "strong and better" EU foreign action. What that looks like in practice, and whether Kallas survives it with her powers intact, will become clearer when EU leaders meet in October.

Sources cited:
- Financial Times (via EU Perspectives) (https://euperspectives.eu/2026/07/paris-berlin-berlaymont-conspire-to-neuter-diplomatic-service/)
- Financial Times (via Charter'97) (https://charter97.org/en/news/2026/6/11/687379)
- Pravda EU / News Pravda (https://eu.news-pravda.com/world/2026/07/21/219559.html)
- EU Insider (https://www.euinsider.eu/news/eeas-france-germany-dismantle-kallas-2026)
- Pravda EU (June) (https://eu.news-pravda.com/eu/2026/06/11/206609.html)