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Latest news - 04-01-2010 ... the thumb of the European Commission and that the ministers had too little influence on shaping foreign policy.
Ashton had to listen to some harsh criticism. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The EU's foreign policy strategy is a mess, Riegert says In Brussels, members of the Commission seem to be locking swords with those representing the member states over who gets what post in the EU's new diplomatic corps. Brussels is only now starting to merge the departments that used to look after EU foreign policy - the Council of Ministers and the European Commission.
Since Ashton wants to please everybody at the same time, she has come up with some truly absurd proposals that are bound to end up in chaos and a doubling-up of structures. We may well have to wait until the end of the year to see a functioning diplomatic service in the EU.
Personality issues Baroness Catherine Ashton, as she is known in her native Britain, does not come across as the most riveting personality and she is being pulled in all directions at the moment. At the beginning of her term, she was left alone and, apparently, did not even have her own phone line or staff, let alone her own private jet to visit all those countries as the new face of EU foreign politics.
One could almost feel sorry for EU members, but they did know what they were getting into when nominating someone with no experience in foreign politics. It was also a big mistake not to have started work on the new EU diplomatic service sooner. After all, Ashton is supposed to head a department with 5,000 civil servants.
Outside of Europe, the whole debate must seem very strange. The EU, determined to play a major role in global politics, is making itself look ridiculous at the moment. Foreign ministers are so busy working out the structures of the new service and shaping Ashton's role that they have had hardly any time to think about politics and strategy. The meeting in Cordoba has produced nothing but the most general platitudes. The moral of that meeting in Cordoba is this: The EU is miles away from a common foreign policy, with what can only be described as a luckless Cartherine Ashton at the helm.
Author: Bernd Riegert/ng
Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn
(Deutsche Welle)
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