歐盟執委會駐外代表團之分析

An Exploration of EU External Delegations

「歐盟駐台北經濟暨貿易辦事處」（European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei,EETO）在台灣十餘年經貿外交的努力之下，終於在二○○三年三月十日正式成立。這無疑是近年來台灣對歐關係的一大突破。然而對於歐盟駐外代表團的設立原因及其工作性質之國內外研究仍相當的少。有鑑於此，本文有系統地檢視歐盟執委會駐外代表團的外交特質，探討其涉外能力的限制和優勢，並比較執委會各地駐外代表團的功能與運作。本文討論執委會的「改革執委會白皮書」、「改革對外援助之管理」，以及「對外服務之發展」等行政改革計畫。筆者認為執委會的上述三大改革計畫實乃開啟了改革的機會之窗，預先排除歐盟內部的政治阻力，使得執委會在二○○一年重新佈署其各地駐外代表團有了正常性依據。所以執委會內部行政改革乃其來台設處之必要但非充分條件。

On 10 March 2003, the Commission of the European Union (EU) finally set up its 'European Economic and Trade Office' in Taipei. This new EU office comes after decades of efforts by Taipei in trade and economic diplomacy, and is doubtlessly a breakthrough in EU-Taiwan relations. Given the significant role played by the commission's external delegations in the EU's external affairs, it is surprising that few studies have investigated why they are deployed and how they operate. This paper seeks to enrich our understanding of the EU's external delegations by systematically exploring their nature, function, and operation. It is argued that the grand administrative reform in Commission that took place in 2000 actually opened a window of political opportunity for reforming EU external delegations. Not only did the Commission's administrative reform overcome existing interests' political opposition, it also provided legitimacy for the redeployment of external delegations. Legitimacy based on administrative rationale, rather than on political preference, is important for the Commission to justify all its redeployment decisions in 2001. For this reason, I suggest that administrative reform was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the Commission to open its economic and trade office in Taipei.