Cathy stays… for now
(BRUXELLES2) It's been a tradition since the creation of this blog. Two years ago the armored translation booths, last year theA400M for the European Union, this time Cathy Ashton, with elements and a little accent of truth, I recognize it. Some will no doubt be relieved, others will inevitably be disappointed. But the Baroness is still in her dual role of European Commissioner and High Representative. And his term is, well, five years (not two and a half). It ends in November 2014, unless other events decide otherwise.
A contested personality
We can talk for a long time about this personality, discreet and not very effective, contested and criticized by many ministers and diplomats, better in parliamentary oratorical contests (his experience in the House of Lords) or in face-to-face discussions than discussions strategies, her lack of appetite for certain diplomatic issues, not to mention her ignorance (in both senses of the term: innocence/obscurantism) of the tools of European security policy... If Cathy Ashton is pugnacious and finer political than t seems like it, it will also have to be careful, not ignore the signs that are multiplying and engage in energetic measures to develop both its practice and its organization. A reshuffling seems necessary. And it is not the change, cosmetic, of a spokesperson here or an adviser there that could be enough. If the first 18 months were "rotten", the following may be too.
Serious "bugs" in the post
We must also be fair and recognize the difficulty and magnitude of the task facing the British. We don't make it easy for him, no doubt. But it was rather to be expected and it is the art of politics... Cathy Ashton is, above all, dealing with the plasters of a device, very beautiful on paper - the merger of the posts of High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission - which has some serious bugs in the reality of daily operation. You would have to be blind not to see it. It is important to reflect, calmly, without a priori of people, on a structural arrangement of this device. Otherwise, we risk seeing this weakness persist.
