[3][4] The EEAS does not propose or implement policy in its own name, but prepares acts to be adopted by the High Representative, the European Commission or the Council.

[10] The EEAS was formed by merger of the external relations departments of the European Commission and of the Council, which were joined by staff seconded from national diplomatic services of the Member States.

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake Ashton chaired a meeting of the foreign policy actors across the Commission, Council and member states to give a coordinated response to the disaster.

Although she refused to describe it as the first act of the external action service, Ashton did stress that it was the first time that such a co-ordination between all the various EU foreign policy actors had been accomplished before.

The Commission wanted to retain as many of its existing competencies (trade, development, enlargement, representations and so forth) as possible[16] while Parliament fought to gain as much oversight over the EEAS as possible by demanding scrutiny of appointments and budgets.

The EEAS manages general foreign relations, security and defence policies and controls the Situation Centre (see intelligence below).

However, although the HR and the EEAS can prepare initiatives, member states make the final policy decisions and the commission also plays a part in technical implementation.

[3] The EEAS would have desks dedicated to all the countries and regional organisations in the world, and specialised units for democracy, human rights and defence.

[23] The EEAS also includes departments for security, strategic policy planning, legal affairs, inter-institutional relations, information and public diplomacy, internal audit and inspections, and personal data protection.

One of the deputy secretaries-general deals with administrative matters (such as co-ordination and co-operation with the commission) while the other assists with foreign policy formulation.

[28] However under the final agreed plans the HR would be deputised by a relevant European Commissioner or the foreign minister holding the rotating council presidency.

[31] The first delegation to be upgraded was the one in Washington D.C., the new joint ambassador was Joao Vale de Almeida who outlined his new powers as speaking for both the Commission and Council presidents, and member states.

[32] Some states may choose to operate through the new EU delegations and close down some of their smaller national embassies, however France has indicated that it will maintain its own network around the world for now.

[17] Parliament has fought to gain oversight over the EEAS and under final plans the budget, though independent, would be scrutinised by MEPs who can approve or reject it.

The Situation Centre has 110 staff and has a cell of intelligence analysts from member states who pool classified information to produce concise reports on important topics.

It also runs a 24/7 alert desk based on public sources which then updates EU diplomats via SMS on current events.

It uses scientific tools including statistical analysis and software which scans global TV broadcasts for names and key words.

[35] However it is unclear if the council's Clearing House (or Working Group CP 931 which deals with the EU's terrorism blacklist[36]) would be merged into the EEAS along with these other bodies.

[40][41][42][43] The European Commission managed to retain control over its competencies in aid (and its €6 billion a year budget), development, energy and enlargement.

[48] It was originally expected that the EEAS would take over the commission's Charlemagne building[49] on the Rue de la Loi which housed the now defunct Directorate-General for External Relations (RELEX).

However that building was thought to be too small,[48] would be too closely associated with RELEX (going against the image of the EEAS as a unique independent institution)[50] and would take too long to overhaul.