The head of EU foreign policy has criticized his own diplomatic service as a failure, branding work-averse Eurocrats as lazy, haughty, out of touch, and unwilling to take chances.
Straight-talking Spaniard The EU’s senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, delivered the rant during a speech to “ambassadors” from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Union’s equivalent of the British Foreign Office.
This is not the time to give flowers to everyone and tell them how thrilled we are with how well they are working.
I don’t want to point the finger or bring you to justice, but I have to tell you this. All the time, I want you to be more responsive.
The 75-year-old criticized EU authorities for their ignorance of important geopolitical concerns relating to technology, energy, and climate change as well as their failure to foresee Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Senior ambassadors gasped when Mr. Borrell said that his staff was taking longer than the Press to cover significant foreign policy developments.
The EEAS has often been derided as a subpar service where diplomats who won’t cut it in their national foreign ministry might be sent.
Mr. Borrell’s speech, according to a spokeswoman for the European Commission, was intended to “shake up the house.”