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Belén Martínez Carbonell will resign from the European External Action Service, diplomats and officials said...
One of the top officials at the European External Action Service is leaving her post after just over a year in the job. Belén Martinez Carbonell will step down as Secretary-General of the EEAS, according to eight diplomats and officials with knowledge of the plans. Two of them said Carbonell had already shared the news with colleagues, Politico reported, adding that there was no immediate word on when she would step down.
The Spanish official, who has worked at the EEAS since 2010, took over as Secretary-General in February last year. She succeeds Italian Stefano Sannino, who is under investigation for alleged misuse of EU funds.
Two of the officials said Carbonell will take a post in Latin America. Carbonell's husband, Raul Fuentes Milani, is the EU ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
In October last year, the team of EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas created a new senior role in the service, with some of Carbonell's most important tasks transferred to a deputy, including representing the EEAS in meetings with governments and ambassadors.
Martin Selmayr, who was chief of staff to former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, was the favourite to take the influential new post. However, opposition from the top of the European Commission scuttled his candidacy. Kallas instead appointed another Estonian, Matti Maasikas, to oversee relations with ambassadors, in an arrangement that one official described as "temporary".
One of the diplomats said Carbonell had had to walk a tightrope between competing interests at the EEAS and the European Commission. “She is doing her best,” the diplomat said.
Meanwhile, a European official said of Carbonell's departure that "it's not clear whether she's leaving because she wants to, but I don't think she's been treated very well."
Asked to confirm the move, an EU official speaking on behalf of the EEAS said that “Belén is the Secretary General of the EEAS, currently on mission with the HRVP to Armenia for the European Political Community and the EU-Armenia summit.”
A European Commission spokesman declined to comment further, and Carbonell did not respond to a request for comment.
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