Attitudes, Identities and the Emergence of an Esprit de Corps in the EEAS

The establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) constituted an original case of institutional engineering, merging departments (Directorates-General) from the European Commission and the Secretariat General of the Council, as well as the addition of a new group of officials from the diplomatic services of the EU member states. The end product had the potential to bring about a truly European diplomatic mindset; however, it was ridden with numerous problems from the start. Not least, one general assumption was that each of these categories of officials would bring to the post their own organisational culture, attitudes and values to the EEAS, and the European Union (EU) more generally, complicating what had already been a difficult process of organisational reform. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, this chapter revisits such claims by examining the attitudes and beliefs of EEAS officials and the challenges associated with accommodating different beliefs and values within one organisation.