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Political and defence Europe (by Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

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Cathy Ashton: "She's doing her job well" (Hungarian EU Presidency)

(In Budapest) Cathy Ashton was much criticised for her inexperience upon her arrival. Wrongly, stressed János Martonyi, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs who responded in Brussels2 on the sidelines of the conference he held for European correspondents invited to the traditional "presidency trip". " the High Representative is a great character. She has a very sharp intelligence, with a sense of compromise. She does her job well ". We have several challenges, together, then commented the Minister who, due to the new profile of the High Representative with the Lisbon Treaty, will have a more subdued role. " We will support her ". The most immediate is Sudan. "I'm pretty optimistic," he said. " News from the field seems to prove it. And I hope there won't be any trouble. The same optimism about the fate of the Hungarian still held hostage. " I hope for good news soon » he specifies (*). As for recognizing a Palestinian state, This is not on the agenda for the moment” he estimated.

(*) (Updated) The "quickly" turned out to be very quick. Since Istvan Papp, the employee of Minuad for demobilization tasks (DDR) of former armed groups was released late in the afternoon.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).