Infos from : http://europa.eu/scadplus/constitution/minister_en.htm
Creating
the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs was one of the main
innovations of the Constitution. The purpose of introducing such a role
was to make the European Union's external action more effective and
coherent, the Minister for Foreign Affairs becoming in effect the voice
of the Union's common foreign and security policy
(CFSP).
The
creation of the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs was discussed at
length both by the members of the Convention and by
the
Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC)
This
institutional innovation
is the result of merging the functions of the High Representative for
the CFSP and the External Relations Commissioner. Provision is made for
the creation of the post of Foreign Affairs Minister in Article I-28 of
the Constitutional Treaty. The Minister's role consists in conducting
the CFSP and the European security and defence policy (ESDP), using all
the instruments at his or her disposal.
The Foreign Affairs
Minister
will not, however, have sole charge of the Union's external
representation. The Constitution specifically assigns the task of
representing the Union to the Commission, except for CFSP issues.
Article I-22 of the Constitution provides that the President
of the
European Council , as well as preparing and chairing the work
of the
European Councils, is responsible at his or her level for ensuring the
external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common
foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the responsibilities
of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Constitution does not,
however, go into detail about how these functions are to be divided
between the European Council President and the Foreign Affairs
Minister, leaving their respective roles for institutional practice to
decide.