Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague is so deeply concerned about the EU’s new European External Action Service (eeas) that he has written to British embassies around the world warning them to be on guard against encroachments by this brand-new European Union body and its 136 new embassies.

The eeas, known as Europe’s State Department, now has a staff of 7,000 and controls a budget of over $10 billion for the purpose of running EU embassies and providing aid, peacekeeping and development. The stated aim of the new EU embassies is to explain the European Union to their host countries and act as ambassadors for the Union. They are also to offer diplomatic protection for EU citizens in third countries.

The EU website states: “It is important to note that the delegation will not duplicate the activities of the embassies of the European Union member states; instead it will take the lead in areas that are dealt with at the European, rather than the national level.”

However, recent encroachments have so disturbed William Hague that on May 25 he went on national radio to broadcast the growing dangers to Britain. Speaking on the bbc’s Today program, he said, “We will always guard against eeas mission creep. We are very clear about what is a UK responsibility and what is an External Action Service responsibility. I am certainly giving a preemptive warning. Where we have seen one or two instances of it, we have dealt with that, but we will always be vigilant about that.”

A vivid example of the EU trying to edge out UK diplomats and speak for Britain occurred last fall. It was described in the Telegraph on May 28:

At last, the Belgian diplomat’s moment of glory had come. Taking his seat at a UN conference on trade and development in Geneva, he proudly placed his EU representative sign in front of him, to speak—as Belgium held the EU presidency—for the whole European Union.But the British representative could not accept that.Walking over to the table, he swiftly replaced the EU name sign with one for Belgium—forcing the embarrassed Belgian to admit that, in fact, he had over-stepped the mark and tried to speak for the EU on an issue which was undeniably one for individual states.

In other instances, the EU attempted to usurp the role reserved for individual member countries at both the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and at a major climate change conference in Tianjin, China.

And in yet another case, EU President Herman van Rompuy had to be stopped before he could deliver a speech at a security conference in Kazakhstan in December last year as he had not consulted any EU member states. According to the Telegraph, he had to be told that he had no right to speak for the EU until Britain and the other member states had approved his text.

One senior British diplomatic source told the Telegraph, “They talk about things being ‘in the spirit of Lisbon’ as an excuse to completely bend the rules.”

This is a reference, of course, to the EU’s Lisbon constitution, which gave the EU the right to set up the eeas in the first place. This was the very same Lisbon Treaty on which UK Prime Minister David Cameron had pledged to give Britain a referendum, a promise that was later reneged upon. It would appear that the chickens have come home to roost rather more quickly than Cameron could have foreseen.

Bill Cash, constitutional lawyer, member of Parliament and chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, was scathing: “For Mr. Hague to send out letters warning of ‘competence creep’ is a clear example of hope over experience. They say they are ‘vigorously protecting’ British interests, but it has already been allowed to happen. It’s not competence creep, it’s competence grant.”

The head of the eeas, High Representative Baroness Ashton, has received sustained criticism from France and Germany for being weak and ineffective in her role. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble complained recently that she “does not have the power to portray Europe” on a world stage.

In a stern and unknowingly prophetic editorial on May 24, the Telegraph said this was fortunate for Britain (emphasis mine):

For those who have no desire to be a part of a European superstate, it is fortunate that the eeas is headed by Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. She has proved singularly ineffectual in the role, which is presumably why David Cameron has been happy to see her stay in post. She will not, however, be there forever, and the foreign-policy empire she is trying to create could prove a formidable vehicle for a politician of talent and ambition.

A modern Charlemagne of “talent and ambition” taking over a prominent role in European affairs is exactly what this publication and our predecessor the Plain Truth have been warning about for nearly 80 years!

You need to follow very closely this EU “mission creep” that is so distressing the British government and take note of where it will ultimately lead.

But beyond the vexatious, short-term news, there is a great future hope for Britain. Read more about the specific chain of events in our booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.