The European Commission is drawing up plans to break up parts of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and transfer its functions to existing Commission departments, responding to pressure from France and Germany for a sweeping overhaul of the European Union’s foreign policy machinery by the end of the year.
Senior officials are examining which responsibilities of the EEAS could be absorbed into the Commission, according to people briefed on the process. Such a move would represent a partial reversal of one of the EU’s biggest institutional reforms of the past two decades, although the plans would not involve transferring the entire diplomatic service into the Commission.
The EEAS, led by EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas, has faced increasing scrutiny from member state capitals over its ability to co-ordinate effective responses to major international crises. Those concerns include the wars in Ukraine and Iran, Donald Trump’s aggressive foreign policy and the growing use of economic coercion as a tool of statecraft.
The proposed restructuring is being developed by officials from the Commission’s secretariat-general and its legal and budget divisions. Its stated aim is to reduce duplication and bring the EU’s diplomatic work more closely into line with areas already controlled by the Commission, including trade, aid, digital regulation and technology.
Budgetary pressure is also a central factor. National capitals are pressing Brussels to reduce spending as negotiations begin over the EU’s next multiyear budget. Supporters of the reform argue that bringing much of the €1bn-a-year EEAS into the Commission could make EU foreign policy more coherent, eliminate overlapping functions and reduce external policy spending.
Under the emerging proposals, the EEAS would not simply disappear into a single, enlarged Commission foreign policy directorate. Instead, its existing functions would be divided between different Commission departments, with the intention of improving efficiency. A smaller EEAS would remain outside the Commission and retain responsibility for areas including EU peacekeeping missions and military training.
EU diplomats say a broad framework for transferring powers could ideally be agreed in December as part of negotiations over the EU’s 2028-34 budget. However, the proposals remain at an early stage and could still change before any decision is reached.
The plans are expected to be developed further ahead of a summit of EU leaders next month. France and Germany, the bloc’s two largest economies and biggest diplomatic powers, want to use the summit to advance discussions on reforming the EU’s external action.
Paris and Berlin have also proposed giving Kallas a stronger personal role within any reformed structure, including greater oversight of an enlarged Commission external relations portfolio.
“There are ongoing reflections and discussions on how to reform and strengthen the EU’s external action,” said a Commission spokesperson.
“Taking into account the geopolitical environment, it is clear we must continuously modernise and adapt to ensure our tools, structures and decision-making processes can continue to deliver effective action. The Commission is ready to contribute to this discussion,” the spokesperson added.
An EU official said Kallas “will discuss with foreign ministers how to make the EU’s external action more efficient”, while stressing that “Any decisions on the future of the EEAS can only be taken with the approval of member states.”
Kallas has not publicly commented on the possible changes. The Franco-German initiative has nevertheless gathered momentum over the summer, beginning with a private French paper outlining options for reshaping EU foreign policy, followed by a joint declaration in July calling for a wider debate.
This week, a Franco-German document went further, calling for “embedding the services of the EEAS to a large extent in the Commission’s structures”. The proposal now puts the future structure of the EU’s diplomatic service at the centre of a broader debate over how Brussels should organise, finance and exercise its external power.
