European Union Special Representative

The European Union Special Representatives (EUSR) are emissaries of the European Union with specific tasks abroad. While the EU's ambassadors are responsible for affairs with a single country, Special Representatives tackle specific issues, conflict areas or regions of countries. They answer directly to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, currently Federica Mogherini.

Current SRs by region

Europe

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Peter Sørensen took over the position of EUSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a mandate from 1 September 2011 until 30 June 2015.^[1] His post was de-coupled from the one of High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (which remained in the hands of Valentin Inzko), aiming at fostering the EU pre-accession strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[2] However, in November 2014, Sørensen became Head of the EU Delegation in Geneva, leaving the EUSR BiH post vacant.^[3] Lars-Gunnar Wigemark was appointed as the EUSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1 March 2015 until 31 October 2015.^[4] His mandate was extended until 28 February 2017.^[5]

Kosovo

Samuel Žbogar was appointed as Special Representative in Kosovo for the period from 1 February 2012 to 30 June 2014. His mandate was extended until 28 February 2017.^[6]

South Caucasus and Georgia

Herbert Salber was appointed EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia on 1 July 2014. His mandate was extended until 28 February 2017.^[7]

Asia

Afghanistan

Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin was appointed European Union Special Representative (EUSR) in Afghanistan from 1 September 2013.^[8] His mandate is to contribute, through close liaison with and support for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Brahmini, to achieving the implementation of the Union's policy in Afghanistan, which includes the implementation of the EU-Afghanistan Joint Declaration; leading the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Afghanistan and Pakistan, in so far as it concerns Afghanistan, thereby working with EU Member States’ representatives in Afghanistan; and supporting the role of the United Nations in Afghanistan with particular emphasis on contributing to better co-ordinated international assistance. His mandate ends on 28 February 2017.^[9]

Central Asia

Peter Burian is the Special Representative for the Central Asia starting from 15 April 2015 until 28 February 2017.^[10] His mandate is to promote good relations between the EU and central Asian countries and to strengthen stability, cooperation, democracy and respect for human rights in the region. In particular, the EU Special Representative will co-ordinate EU action in central Asia and oversee the implementation of the EU Strategy for central Asia.

Middle East

Fernando Gentilini is the Special Representative for the Middle East peace process starting from 15 April 2015 until 28 February 2017.^[11] The mandate of the Special Representative is based on the EU's policy objectives regarding the Middle East peace process, which include a two-State solution with Israel and a democratic, contiguous, viable, peaceful and sovereign Palestinian State living side-by-side within secure and recognised borders enjoying normal relations with their neighbours in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1402 and the principles of the Madrid Conference.

Africa

Horn of Africa (incl. the region of Sudan)

Alexander Rondos was appointed European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa on 1 January 2012. His mandate was extended until 28 February 2017.^[12]

Sahel

Ángel Losada Fernández was appointed as the EUSR for the Sahel from 1 November 2015 to 28 February 2017.^[13]

Global

Human Rights

A long-standing request^[14] for a representative that would be in charge of enhancing the effectiveness and visibility of EU's Human rights policy, based on the Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy (officially adopted on 25 June 2012),^[15] led to the creation of the post of the Special Representative of the European Union for Human Rights. The post, which is providing a strong, independent, flexible and sufficiently broad mandate, is aiming to cover fields such as the strengthening of democracy, International justice, humanitarian law and the abolition of the death penalty .

On 25 July 2012, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Baroness Ashton appointed Stavros Lambrinidis, a former foreign affairs minister of Greece and Vice-President of the European Parliament, as the first Special Representative of the European Union for Human Rights, with a mandate from 1 September 2012 to 30 June 2014. His mandate was extended to 28 February 2017.^[16]

Previous SRs

The table below is based on official sources provided by the EU.^[17]^[18]

Scope	Representative(s)	Term(s)
Afghanistan	Klaus Peter Klaiber	10 December 2001 – 30 June 2002
	Francesc Vendrell	1 July 2002 – 31 August 2008
	Ettore Francesco Sequi (also for Pakistan from 15 June 2009)	1 September 2008 – 31 March 2010
	Vygaudas Ušackas	1 April 2010 – 31 August 2013
African Great Lakes Region	Aldo Ajello (initially as Special Envoy)	25 March 1996 – 28 February 2007
African Great Lakes Region	Roeland van de Geer	1 March 2007 – 31 August 2011
African Union	Koen Vervaeke	6 December 2007 – 31 October 2011
African Union	Gary Quince (remains head of the EU Delegation to the AU)	1 November 2011 – 30 June 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Lord Ashdown (also High Representative)	3 June 2002 – 31 January 2006
	Christian Schwarz-Schilling (also High Representative)	1 February 2006 – 30 June 2007
	Miroslav Lajčák (also High Representative)	1 July 2007 – 28 February 2009
	Valentin Inzko (also High Representative until now)	1 March 2009 – 31 August 2011
	Peter Sørensen	1 September 2011 - 31 October 2014
Central Asia	Ján Kubiš	28 July 2005 – 5 July 2006
	Pierre Morel	5 October 2006 – 30 June 2012
	de:Patricia Flor	1 July 2012 - 30 June 2014
Georgia crisis	Pierre Morel	25 September 2008 – 31 August 2011
Kosovo	Wolfgang Petritsch (Special Envoy)	5 October 1998 – 29 July 1999
	Pieter Feith	4 February 2008 – 30 April 2011
	Fernando Gentilini	1 May 2011 – 31 January 2012
Republic of Macedonia	François Léotard	29 June 2001 – 29 October 2001
	Alain Le Roy	29 October 2001 – 28 February 2002
	Alexis Brouhns	30 September 2002 – 31 December 2003
	Søren Jessen-Petersen	26 January 2004 – 30 June 2004
	Michael Sahlin	12 July 2004 – 31 August 2005
	Erwan Fouéré	17 October 2005 – 31 August 2011
Middle East peace process	Miguel Ángel Moratinos	25 November 1996 – 31 May 2002
	Marc Otte	14 July 2003 – 28 February 2011
	Andreas Reinicke	1 February 2012 - 31 December 2013
Moldova	Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged	23 March 2005 – 28 February 2007
Moldova	Kálmán Mizsei	1 March 2007 – 28 February 2011
Sahel	fr:Michel Reveyrand-de Menthon	18 March 2013 – 31 October 2015
South Caucasus	Heikki Talvitie	1 July 2003 – 28 February 2006
	Peter Semneby	1 March 2006 – 28 February 2011
	Philippe Lefort (also for Georgia crisis)	1 September 2011 - 30 June 2014
Royaumont Process	Panagiotis Roumeliotis (was already also the coordinator of the process of stability and good-neighbourly relations in South-east Europe (the Royaumont Process))	31 May 1999 – 31 May 2000
Southern Mediterranean	Bernardino León	18 July 2011 – 30 June 2014
(Special) Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe	Bodo Hombach	2 July 1999 – 31 December 2001
	Erhard Busek	1 January 2002 – 30 June 2008
Sudan	Pekka Haavisto	18 July 2005 – 30 April 2007
	Torben Brylle	1 May 2007 – 31 August 2010
	Rosalind Marsden (also for South Sudan since 1 August 2011)	1 September 2010 – 31 October 2013
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	Felipe González	8 June 1998 – 11 October 1999

References

External links

Official list of EU Special Representatives
Official list of current EU Special Representatives
Official list of former EU Special Representatives
Exploring EU Foreign Policy, the EUSR, Leuven Catholic University
Giovanni Grevi, The EU Special Representatives, Chaillot Paper nb. 106, Institute for Security Studies of the European Union, Paris, 2007
Cornelius Adebahr, Working inside out: what role for Special Envoys in the European External Action Service?, EPC Policy Brief, January 2011
Dominik Tolksdorf, The Role of EU Special Representatives in the post-Lisbon foreign policy system: A renaissance?, IES Policy Brief, Brussels, June 2012

Foreign relations of the European Union

Bilateral relations

Africa & the Middle East	Bahrain Cape Verde Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Morocco Palestine† South Africa Syria Yemen

Americas	Argentina Brazil Canada Cuba Greenland Mexico United States

Asia-Pacific	Australia China (People's Republic of) India Indonesia Japan Kazakhstan Malaysia Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines South Korea

Europe	Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Faroe Islands Georgia Iceland Kosovo† Liechtenstein Macedonia‡ Moldova Monaco Montenegro Northern Cyprus (Turkish Republic of)† Norway Russia San Marino Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Vatican City

General	Members’ overseas territories Largest trading partners Association Agreements Free trade agreements

†= Disputed state, may not be recognised as an independent state by some or all European Union members. ‡= Name disputed by Greece, EU recognises the Republic of Macedonia as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Multilateral relations and initiatives

Organisations	Arab League ASEAN Commonwealth of Nations ECHR G8 ICC United Nations

Initiatives	African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Asia–Europe Meeting CARIFORUM Customs Union Eastern Partnership Energy Community Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly European Common Aviation Area European Economic Area Euro-Mediterranean free trade area Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Euronest Economic Partnership Agreements EU CBRN Risk Mitigation CoE Initiative Neighbourhood Policy Northern Dimension Mediterranean Union Stabilisation and Association Process

Organisation

Policy	Common Foreign and Security Policy Economic Relations Everything but Arms Security and Defence Policy Enlargement

Actors	ECHO EuropeAid External Action Service Foreign Affairs Council High Representative Catherine Ashton Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign Policy Instruments Service

Diplomatic missions	of the EU / to the EU Ambassadors Special Representatives

Military and security

Initiatives	Defence Initiative Synchronised Armed Forces Defence Procurement Petersberg tasks Helsinki Headline Goal

Structures	Political and Security Committee Military Committee Military Staff Operations Centre Security & Defence College Defence Agency Institute for Security Studies Satellite Centre Joint Situation Centre

Forces	European Union Force Eurofor Eurocorps EU Battlegroup EU Gendarmerie Force EU Maritime Force Deployments

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