mr president as the union seeks a broader role in international affairs it arguably should have the tools to project our common values throughout the world providing of course there is unanimity in all twenty-seven member states
but how will that role develop
where will its limits be
we in the ecr group believe as an anti-federalist body that foreign policy must ultimately remain the preserve of our individual member states
it is therefore of concern to us that the lisbon treaty if it becomes law appears to set in train a series of developments that could end up undermining that prerogative
the proposed european external action service must complement and not compete with or undermine member states bilateral diplomatic activity and must draw its authority mainly from the council and not from the commission
parliament must exercise its rights to scrutinise the eeas and shape its budget
given that there is much talk about eu embassies in the brok report i would like the commission once again to repeat the assurances it gave me a year ago that eeas missions or delegations will not be called embassies
to call these missions embassies would compound the fear that the eu is seeking all the trappings of a sovereign state
