544 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 have already said, must also find his own space in EU foreign policy, breaking away from and identifying his scope and powers with respect to the figures of the President of the European Council, the President of the Commission and the rotating Presidency of the Council for sector policies, but with an external projection. Moreover, in spite of the fact that the EU has evolved, reinforcing its role as a diplomatic player, its ambitions clash with the reality of international Law which regulates this arena; a legal arrangement traditionally centred on the sovereign state as the subject of diplomatic activity, where on occasion the presence of the Union depends on the good will of third countries in accepting it as a diplomatic player25 or its own Member States in not placing obstacles in its way. It also true to say, as we shall see later, that the acceptance of the EU as a political and diplomatic player has been reinforced by the unifying or harmonising function of the EU Delegations with respect to the Member States. 2. Operational problems of the European External Actions service affecting the common security and defence policy; ideas for reform If we focus on the current problems facing the EEAS, which are reflected in security and defence policy, we could divide them into challenges of organisation and functioning, although these are intertwined and condition one another mutually. We must emphasise the ambiguous institutional position of the Special Representatives; the lack of definition of the role of the EU Delegations in third countries; the problem of coordination within the Commission in terms of its resources and competences in relation to the EU’s external activities; the structural isolation of the organisations in charge of the Common Security and Defence Policy with respect to the rest of the apparatus and the lack of definition of the relationship between the Special Representatives, the CSDP missions and EU Delegations in territories where they overlap. The majority of these factors impact negatively on the common security and defence policy’s necessary comprehensive approach, and on EU foreign policy . We cannot disconnect ideas for the reform of the EEAS from those related to the proposal of a reconsideration of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), impatiently awaited by the Member States, to be dealt with at the December 2013 European Council26. The reality is that while focusing on bringing the structure of 25 WESSEL, Ramses A., VAN VOOREN, Bart, “The EEAS’s Diplomatic Dreams and the Reality of European and International Law”, Journal of European Public Policy, 2013. 26 See EEAS, Deputy Secretary General, Note to the Attention of the HR/VP Catherine Ashton for Decision, European Council discussion on CSDP (2013), Brussels, 22 May 2013, EEAS/DSG1/ BV/am (2013) 1371555 and EEAS-Review 2013, July 2013; and the Report of the High Representative
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