Twenty-three years ago, on the 6th of April, one of the greatest tragedies of contemporary history began. The Rwandan genocide, which took the lives of almost one million people in just about 100 days, occurred before the eyes of the world powers, whose representatives, impassive at the time, merely evacuated their personnel from the country and left the Rwandans to the mercy of the madness unleashed by a part of the population.
Abstract
Taking the confirmation hearing of the forthcoming HRVP Federica Mogherini as an appropriate juncture in the EEAS’s existence, this policy brief employs a unique data-set classifying the nationality and source of recruitment of EEAS management and 276 Heads of EU Delegations:
•The policy brief demonstrates a growing overrepresentation of national diplomats over former Commission and Council staff in the European External Action Service (EEAS), particularly at the EEAS management and Heads of EU Delegation levels.
When the decision about shifting the election date to the European Parliament to May was taken, an exceptional opportunity for the party campaigners in the Central and Eastern Europe seemed to arise. It had to be a relatively easy task to combine the stocktaking of the decade of EU membership with the positive narrative as to the future (mainly domestic) challenges, with the politicians ensuring to be the only ones able to properly cope with them and find the right answers.