Catherine Ashton, a little-known peer in her native Britain, led the UK's upper house, the House of Lords, before she replaced fellow Briton Peter Mandelson as EU trade commissioner. She was nominated as the EU's first High Representative for Foreign and Security Affairs on 19 November. The post was created to give the EU a united voice in foreign affairs. Ashton is also the vice president of the EU's executive arm, the European Commission. Her aim is to set up a new diplomatic corps, the External Action Service. At a recent meeting in Cordoba, Spain, EU foreign ministers voiced their concern about Ashton's appointment. Deutsche Welle's EU expert Bernd Riegert comments.

When EU foreign ministers met for an informal meeting in Cordoba in Spain last week, they complained that she is under 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.

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