EU diplomats are branded 'out of touch' and 'lazy' by their own boss
EU diplomats are branded ‘out of touch’, ‘lazy’ and ‘arrogant’… by their own boss
- Josep Borrell accused Eurocrats of being lazy and too scared to take risks
- The EU’s foreign policy chief delivered the tirade at a speech to ‘ambassadors’ from the European External Action Service (EEAS)
- The speech was made to ‘shake up the house’ said the European Commission
The EU’s foreign policy chief has slammed his own diplomatic service as a failure, accusing work-shy Eurocrats of being lazy, arrogant, out of touch and too scared to take risks.
Straight-talking Spaniard Josep Borrell, the bloc’s top diplomat, delivered the tirade at a speech to ‘ambassadors’ from the European External Action Service (EEAS), Brussels’ answer to Britain’s Foreign Office.
Straight-talking Spaniard Josep Borrell, the bloc’s top diplomat, delivered the tirade at a speech to ‘ambassadors’ from the European External Action Service (EEAS)
He said: ‘This is not a moment when we are going to send flowers to all of you saying you… work very well and we are very happy.
‘I do not want to blame and shame but this is something that I have to tell you. I want you to be more reactive, 24 hours a day.’
. The EEAS has often been dismissed as a second-rate service to where diplomats who are not going to make the grade in their own foreign ministries can be dispatched
The 75-year-old chided EU officials for failing to grasp key geopolitical issues about technology, energy and climate change and not predicting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And senior ambassadors gasped when Mr Borrell accused his staff of being slower to report major foreign policy developments than the Press.
The EEAS has often been dismissed as a second-rate service to where diplomats who are not going to make the grade in their own foreign ministries can be dispatched.
A European Commission spokesman for Mr Borrell said his speech was designed to ‘shake up the house’.
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