Brussels 11.06.2026 France and Germany have initiated discussions on the reveiw of the entire structure of the European Union’s foreign policy apparatus. The focus is on revising the powers of the agency that has been responsible for the bloc’s overall foreign strategy for the past 15 years. The situation has escalated following Callas’s personal inability to improve the negotiation process on Ukraine.
Good morning, New York. While you were sleeping, this was the most-read story https://t.co/t7FttBpM5B pic.twitter.com/OHJo9z5eBQ
— Financial Times (@FT) June 11, 2026
According to the Financial Times, Paris and Berlin are considering stripping Callas of some of her powers. The European External Action Service (EEAS), with its annual budget of one billion euros, could be at risk; the agency’s functions are proposed to be returned partially to the European Commission, and partially member state governments. One senior official familiar with the negotiations bluntly stated that the current system has failed.
Financial Times:
France and Germany are considering a major overhaul of the European Union's diplomatic service (EEAS), deeming it too slow, fragmented, and ineffective in responding to current geopolitical crises.
Some proposals would reduce the powers of EU foreign policy… pic.twitter.com/4lcGQ8xX20
— MOSCOW NEWS 🇷🇺 (@MOSCOW_EN) June 11, 2026
The conversations, reported by the Financial Times, reflect growing frustration among national capitals with the EEAS’s ability to coordinate coherent responses to the geopolitical crises that have defined the last several years. Support for Ukraine, relations with Iran, managing the fallout from an increasingly assertive Russia: the diplomatic service has drawn criticism on multiple fronts for moving too slowly through too much bureaucracy.
🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇺⚡️ — EU diplomacy reform
➡️ France and Germany want to reform the EU diplomatic service (EEAS)
➡️ They argue it is too slow and ineffective
➡️ Changes could reduce the role of Kaja Kallas and shift powers back to member states and EU institutions pic.twitter.com/2kmma0Q4wJ— Geopolitia (@_geopolitic_) June 11, 2026
The proposals being floated range from surgical tweaks to full-scale demolition. On the more dramatic end, some member states are pushing to fold the EEAS’s operations entirely back into the European Commission, effectively reversing the institutional experiment that created it in the first place.
On the structural side, there’s talk of consolidating the EEAS’s global network of regional delegations into roughly 18 hubs, down from the current footprint of more than 140 offices.
Plans also include staffing reduction, with around 100 positions slated for elimination by 2027.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) is reducing its global footprint, with plans to significantly downsize around 10 to 12 foreign delegations into “bare minimum” missions by 2027. This downsizing phase out involves phasing out local agents and refocusing resources on strategic geopolitical priorities.
Europe’s security environment has shifted dramatically since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the EEAS has struggled to keep pace with the urgency that member states feel about defense and foreign policy coordination.
A corruption scandal involving EEAS leadership that surfaced in late 2025 has damaged the service’s credibility at precisely the moment it needs institutional defenders.
The informal high-level negotiations among EU diplomats have been ongoing since at least April 2026, according to reporting on the discussions. One procedural change under consideration would elevate foreign policy discussions within Coreper meetings, the gatherings of member states’ permanent representatives to the EU that serve as the engine room for Council decision-making.
