EU diplomacy
Sir: Lord Lamont’s article ‘The EU’s scandalous new army of overpaid diplomats’ (Politics, 20 July) revisits his oft-repeated views on the European Union. It also shows scant regard for the facts and for the reality of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) was created by unanimous agreement of all EU governments to project and implement EU policies in the areas covered in the EU Treaties, including trade, aid and the environment, which member states have decided are better done collectively. It has made EU external policy-making more streamlined and cohesive. It in no way duplicates the work of national diplomacies.
Cheap shots at our presence in ‘warm islands with agreeable beaches’ should not obscure the fact that the choice of location is determined by our delegations being the regional hubs for development aid programmes.
Lord Lamont is wrong to claim that EU diplomats abroad earn more and pay less tax than national diplomats.
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