Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, is expected to announce three more managing directors of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in the coming days. The managing directors for Africa, Asia and the Middle East will be announced “shortly” and “the procedure of informing all the applicants is ongoing”, a spokesperson said today (20 December).

The three managing directors were supposed to be named last week, following the announcement on Tuesday (14 December) of Miroslav Lajčák – a former foreign minister of Slovakia – as managing director for Russia, eastern Europe and the Balkans and of Christian Leffler, the European Commission’s deputy director-general for development, as managing director for the Americas.

The three pending appointments are understood to be Viorel Isticioaia Budura, Romania’s ambassador to China, as managing director for Asia, Nicholas Westcott, Britain’s ambassador to Ghana, as managing director for Africa, and Hugues Mingarelli, currently a deputy director-general in the Commission’s external-relations department, as managing director for the Middle East and north Africa.

The apparent delay leaves Ashton just three working days – counting today – to finalise the appointments before the EU institutions close for the winter holiday. The new diplomatic service is to begin its day-to-day work on 3 January.

A sixth managing-director position, for the thematic department that deals with issues such as human rights, non-proliferation and counterterrorism, is to be re-advertised.

On Friday (17 December), Ashton announced the appointment of Ilkka Salmi, the head of Finland’s intelligence service, as director of the EU’s Situation Centre, which is also part of the EEAS. “As a respected figure in intelligence circles in member states, Ilkka Salmi will have an important role in establishing the credibility of the EEAS in key areas of its work, handling the fight against terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other global threats,” Ashton said.

The Situation Centre is a clearinghouse for policy-relevant intelligence information provided primarily by member states.

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