Cathy on a 3-day internship in Washington before the Foreign Affairs Council

(BRUSSELS2) The High Representative of the EU, Catherine Ashton, is spending three days in the United States; the country where she has traveled the most since her arrival. She will thus be in Washington DC for a series of high-level consultations, from Monday to Wednesday, with American officials. On the program, an interview with the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton - with whom she has developed a particularly close relationship -, and the national security adviser, Tom Donilon. According to her official schedule, she should also discuss new developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the US special envoy, Marc Grossman, and will also meet the King of Jordan, Abdullah II. Among the subjects envisaged: Libya, Syria, the peace process in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the Balkans, without forgetting bilateral US-EU relations.

A good introduction for the Foreign Affairs Council of 27 which will cover more or less the same subjects. In fact, on the menu of the Foreign Affairs Council of May 27 and 23 are: the neighborhood policy (i.e. the Mediterranean), the Balkans and in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Middle East, as well as Sudan (also addressed by development ministers the following day). NB: the Council of Defense Ministers will be held on Monday afternoon, the Council of Development Ministers meeting on Tuesday 24 May.