The Directorate-General for the External Relations (DG RELEX, DG E VIII) was a

Directorate-General Within the European Union (EU), Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility. Within the European Commission specifically, Directorates-General are the equivalent of national-level Ministry (government department), m ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, responsible for the external policy. The DG was merged into the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service in charge of executing all Foreign relations of the European Union, international relations of the European Union. The EEAS is led by the Vice-President of the European Co ...

in 2010, then headed by High Representative

Catherine Ashton Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born 20 March 1956) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of th ...

Role

"The Directorate-General for External Relations contributed to the formulation by the Commissioner for External Relations, together with her colleagues of an effective and coherent external relations policy for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, so as to enable the EU to assert its identity on the international scene." To this end DG RELEX worked closely with other Directorates-General, notably DG Development, DG Enlargement, DG Trade, EuropeAid Co-Operation Office and European Commission's Humanitarian Office (ECHO). The DG operated the 120 Delegations and Offices around the world. In October 2010 David O'Sullivan was made the last

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of RELEX (as he then became the first the chief operating officer of the EEAS) and the Deputy Director General was Karel Kovanda (2008). Prior to O'Sullivan taking over, the director-general was Eneko Landaburu (2003–2009), then

João Vale de Almeida João Vale de Almeida (born 29 January 1957 in Lisbon) is a former senior European diplomat and Portuguese national. Vale de Almeida was Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations from 2015 to 2019 and Ambassador of the European ...

(2009–2010).

Merger

Under the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

, the

(EEAS) took over RELEX's functions, merging them with its counterparts in the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

as of 1 December 2010. Under the second Barroso Commission, the elements of RELEX relating to international climate change negotiations were transferred to the new Climate Action DG. This was in preparation for the merger as not all foreign policy DGs were to be merged but elements of a number. A minor turf war erupted as the Commission attempted to retain control of certain policy areas in the face of EEAS' consolidation. Those areas of RELEX that the commission retains but needs close cooperation with the EEAS were established in a new DG, the Foreign Policy Instruments Service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Directorate-General For External Relations (European Commission) External Relations Foreign relations of the European Union