The two top jobs in Europe were decided last night, Cathy Ashton, the former commissioner was appointed as high representative on foreign affairs and security. If you are wondering who Cathy Ashton is, don’t worry, so is half of Europe. She was bought into replace Peter “mandy” Mandelson as commissioner for trade! She has never stood for elected office and she has just over a years experience in foreign diplomacy.
It is clear, that this decisions (along with the decision to appoint Herman van Rompuy, PM for Belgium as President of European Council) is the result of the Member States choosing to climb down from the Lisbon Treaty by choosing two individuals who will pose no challenge to Member States autonomy.
Let’s look on the bright side though. She used to work for CND and she was the former minister for Human Rights in the UK. Can we expect to see nuclear disarmament and human rights being pushed onto a world stage?
We will have to wait and see, but I suspect this means we can expect more of the same here in Brussels.
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