I fear that Baroness Ashton is a civil servant in a politician's job. But then that was what the leaders apparently wanted.

As far as Liberation's blog entry on stiching-up top jobs is concerned, either Baroness Ashton's modus operandi must be different or Poland ceased to be Britain's ally :/ Ie. out of 28 new EU foreign service top appointments Poland received 2 posts, one in Jordan and the other in South Korea. As seen in the pic FM Radosław Sikorski is delighted.

Regards from Warszawa

The Britain Miss is a absent subscriber in foreign affairs, just sticking in her domestic duty on how to organise her office with smart collegues who will not contest her power

Ah, one of the usual suspects. Re-Bonjour.

Now we must wait for Maher, LV, sanmartinian, pedro, Joe, Josh, Atlas, germanambasssador Version 2 Service Pack 3....

Have I forgotten anybody except the ones I wanted to forget ;-)

schadenfreudejunior, of course, also welcome :-)

Perhaps Baroness Ashton reads statistics and realized that France is nonexisting as commercial partner with Egypt,UK is pratically nonexisting,Germany does exist as exporter to Egypt,doesn't exist as importer,desn't have any influence on Mediterranean.First world commercial partner of Egypt is Italy.Perhaps Baroness knows that if you have no commercial links and/or you are not a neighbour of a Country,you can write all the letters in the world but you are not taken into consideration.Mubarak during his visits to Europe first of all used to land in Rome,nor there is any reason why his successors should behave differently.Baroness Ashton surely knows that Italy asked for a common politics of EU towards Egypt.Those who count nothing write "letters",those who count shows respect for the rest of Europe.Perhaps Baroness Ashton knows this.

Stefano darling, you forget that Mubarak co-presides the 3Mediterranean Union" with Sarkozy

"Mubarak, co-president of the summit, told the leaders they must work together to meet the challenges of food, education and health for their growing populations."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/07/13/us-eu-mediterranean-idUSL12292...

what was the purpose?

http://eeas.europa.eu/euromed/index_en.htm

http://www.euromed-migration.eu/e933/index_eng.html

"Mediterranean Union" folows the same vein of the "Barcelona Process"

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/external_relations/relations_with...

http://eeas.europa.eu/euromed/barcelona_en.htm

"Baroness Ashton surely knows that Italy asked for a common politics of EU towards Egypt.Those who count nothing write "letters",those who count shows respect for the rest of Europe.Perhaps Baroness Ashton knows this."

uh, last I heard from Berlu, he was sticking with teen Girls !

Baroness isn't interested in geopolitical policies, but tto assert her burocraty

@MARIE CLAUDRE.Marie Claude,honey,the big failure of the Mediterranean Union is one of the reasons why Kouchner was sacked by his boss,who will be sacked by you French.Berlu loves girls,the major of Paris loves men.You continuously quote web addresses:many of them are of French origin.Do you remember that you published a web address pretending that France is the biggest NATO contributor in Europe?Some time later,at the nice times of the Lisbon summit,LE FIGARO published a map of all the contributors of NATO denying this.France was third,on that map,which thing is the true data.You quote what you like,honey.But this way you sound not credible.

Stefano, you're volontary blind !

the links that I brought/bring are from the original organisations

and Kouchner was sacked because Sarkozy was recentralising his political orientation to the RIGHT side, and all the Minesters that came from the left parties (and or center's) were outed.

The problem with Kouchner, is that he is a self absorbed prima Dona and whinned as such !

So the EU is going to shake its finger at Egypt and what? What can the EU really do to influence Egypt? Nothing...

"On the way to a meeting for foreign ministers in Brussels, she made no mention of the need for Egypt to hold “free and fair elections”. Only at the end of the meeting did she come forward with this exhortation."

I would say that is doing her job, it not like members of the EU are able to agree on much.

Marie Claude wrote: "Baroness isn't interested in geopolitical policies, but tto assert her burocraty"

Name one EUrocrat that isn't. Not even the Dictator in chief of the 'so called' European Parliament has made any big announcement on this. No doubt to busy slurping at the trough as the gravy train rolls by, to even really notice what is going on.

There is waffling all-round whilst Mubarak remains stubborn and the Muslim Brothers are hoping to take advantage of the frustration of the population and step into the vacuum, before ElBaradein can make a meaningful move. It is a scandal how this useless bunch of politicians in Europe does not dare to say anything that might displease the Americans and Israelis. Perhaps they will wake up when the Egyptians turn to the Islamists and the whole of the Middle East follows their lead.

and how could I have forgotten the Mexican bandit in my invitation list.

Vivazapata, your input here is of special interest.

Marie Claude, don't waste your time - some people in Italy are unaware that this country no longer has a foreign policy, as our diplomatic corps has been turned aside by Mr. Berlusconi's "personal touch" in international relations - i.e. Ruby "Heartstealer" and parties for whichever European leaders (or Gheddafi) are willing to join in...

Egypt, Egypt - was there ever a country with a weaker economy and stronger international prestige? It is impossible to overestimate that country's importance in world affairs. Let us hope that the legacy and strategic choices of Anwar Sadat will be honoured in the future. Mubarak was his lieutenant, and the international community supported him from the beginning in homage to Sadat's prestige. Like Tito, he has been a commanding presence abroad, but leaves a certain amount of chaos in his dictatorial wake at home.
Certainly such personalities as Amr Moussa and Mohamed El Baradei can pick up the pieces in the short term, but in the long term? Of course the Muslim Brotherhood have their hopes, but what about the Army? There are so many people in uniform in Egypt (black uniforms, which always reminded us Italians of our Fascist past) that it is inconceivable someone can govern the country without the support of the police and armed services.
Let us hope the rebellion succeeds as soon as possible and as non-violently as possible: in addition to the tragedy of each death, fuel is added to a fire of future governance.
In the meantime, all of us, from Israel to Italy to Germany to France to the US to the UN, have some soul-searching to do with regard to our lack of support for democratic processes in the Arab world...

@Pumpernickel2:
Hear! Hear!

But I still hope it will not be the Muslim Brotherhood to pick up the pieces.

Joe,

sinceNasser, Egypt is ruled by the army, and it still has a good perception among the Egyptian population, as a least corrupted corpse, that promote a certain nationalism, Egyptians are proud to be Egyptians ! The Brotherhood islamists are adopting a low profile at the moment, they know that they can't solve the situtation, as it isn't only a revolution against a worn out government, but also because food prices are rising.

Besides the army is behaving as a pro Egyptian population, it doesn't stop Egyptians to manifest their anger. Some sa, it's at the request of the "U.S.": To Egyptian Military: 'Exercise Restraint' - Defense News http://t.co/ZtKlRCW

So, me think that these "jasmine" revolutions aren't only spontaneous, a ground work has been made since years, by who you know !

Lybia, and Algeria are the final agendas, so far they don't have a oil policy that has the agreement of the big companies, but their own's !

JoeSolaris: From what is being said on the news (BBC World Service/Radio) it will basically be the military who decides. The opposition parties have made pacts with each other to create a combined council while they redraw the political map, and have promised the military a place in the planning. I know which way I would jump.

"William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, concedes that the situation is “fraught with danger” but argues that, in the end, the outside world had to show “faith in democracy”."

Now if he could add a bit more ginger to that statement, then I would be a lot happier.

European foreign policy is so timid and as a habit of well lets all have more meetings,discussions,and as anyone set up a committee yet?? By the time the long drawn out debates have finished in the 'Brussels Bubble',well so as the crisis that they were supposed to deal with,as it as long finished.
The EU and the EP as a whole lack quick thinking and initiative in truckloads?? No wonder one one really takes Europe seriously any more in foreign policy.

We need not guess as to why the Economist printed such an unflattering picture of Ashton.

Ashton has been a great disappointment to the EU, she was suppossed to put the EU on the map respresenting Europe as its foreign minster, on par with Hilary Clinton.

When Hilary speaks, Egyptians listen. When Ashton speaks there is no reaction from Egypt.

@sherryblack:
Excuse me, but have you actually heard Hillary speak? Hardly forthright...

Check out the 31 January edition of "The Daily Show"...
www.thedailyshow.com

@jolyonwagg1

I agree with you completely.

The EU dithered and did nothing while ethnic cleasing and genocide was taking place in the Balkans 1990s'.

One would have hoped that they would have learnt their lessons from the Balkans crisis but apparently not so.