From left, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov and Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, (unusually for him, tie-less) share a word with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, center, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Friday and Saturday to discuss the carve up of senior posts in the EU’s diplomatic corps, the Middle East peace process, and Pakistan. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

According to media reports, the foreign ministers lobbied EU top diplomat Catherine Ashton by every means possible including “by SMS” to get their candidates appointed to the new European External Action Service (EEAS), Finnish FM Alexander Stubb said during a meeting in Brussels on Friday.

The top positions are likely to be filled by a German, a Frenchman, a Pole and an EU commission official from Ireland.

“I think the allocation of personnel is very much a discussion that takes place behind closed doors, by mobile phone or by SMS,” Mr Stubb told journalists during the informal meeting of foreign ministers in the EU capital.

“All of us have friends and we are trying to lobby Catherine Ashton for places,” he added.