Mr. Pierre Vimont:

I thank the Chairman, and there is no need to apologise as I was late myself so I feel responsible. My only urgency is to catch a flight later but until then I am at the disposal of the committee for any questions the members would like to raise.

My presentation will be brief and will focus on the reason I am here, namely, to prepare for the rotating Presidency which Ireland will hold at the beginning of 2013. The EEAS must do this because the workings of the institutional system makes very close collaboration with the rotating Presidency very important for us. The Chairman mentioned the High Representative several times. As she has two hats - she is also Vice President of the Commission - she has an almost impossible task and therefore needs assistance from the rotating Presidency in some of the work she must complete.

This is mostly with third countries in the meetings we organise or visits to those countries and in regard to our regular reports to the European Parliament on meetings with foreign Ministers. That is one of the reasons we must work closely.

The other reason is that, in our daily work, working parties such as the EU Political and Security Committee, PSC, and COREPER, the daily work of the rotating Presidency is intertwined with the daily work of the EEAS. On a regular basis, we must share our knowledge and our updating of the situation in order to work in the best way possible. The third reason is to know the priorities of the Irish Presidency and precisely to join our common forces as we prepare the agendas for meetings in the Council and for our contact with foreign countries. For these reasons, it is quite important to start working now and to be ready for the six months of the Irish Presidency.

The second observation concerns the state of play in the EEAS. It is a young institution, less than two years old, having been set up in January 2011. This is an ongoing process and a work in progress. We need more time to be as efficient as possible but we have managed to deal with the daily work in practical terms. We must keep working with the rotating Presidency as each one begins. We have set up a network of EU delegations all over the world. Our headquarters is working properly and we are chairing different working groups in the PSC. The High Representative has three councils, including the foreign affairs Ministers, defence Ministers and development Ministers. This is improving by the day but we still have much to do. I can take as many questions as the Chairman wishes.