The goal of my paper is to examine the role of the new EU diplomacy in the Eastern Partnership countries. The aim of the appointment of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – Catherine Ashton, and the creation of a fully integrated diplomatic structure – the European External Action Service (EEAS) was to improve the coordination of the EU external policy. Now it is the EEAS, which is mainly responsible for coordination of EU external policy and its network of delegations provide direct diplomatic presence of EU abroad.
Since this is a new institution, its relations with other institutions and member states have been forming and the report on the functioning of the EEAS is expected to be presented on the beginning of 2012. Although EEAS is still a ‘work in progress’ and its success rate cannot be evaluated to full extend, there are already some consequences and problems for the European Union''s policy, which could be observed in the region of Eastern Partnership. It is important to track them, because they set a precedent of the further development of the European diplomacy. Based on the Eastern Partnership countries example, I try to point out several conditions, which should be fulfilled by EEAS and other foreign policy actors in the EU in order to achieve greater coherence and effectiveness of the EU external policy.
