Tag: Catherine Ashton

The European Union blamed the Syrian government on Saturday (7 September) for a chemical weapons attack in August but urged leaders to wait for a report from UN weapons inspectors before backing any US-led military response, leaving France as America’s only ally in Europe.

The European Union will review relations with Zimbabwe given its "serious concerns" about the conduct of the southern African state's election, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday (22 August).

Egypt allowed Europe's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to meet deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, flying her after dark to a secret detention facility but ruling out any role for Morsi in ending the turmoil convulsing the country. Meanwhile, NATO raised concerns over Mediterranean instability.

The EU’s foreign policy chief hailed the “calm” of Mali’s weekend presidential election as vote-counting continued on Monday (29 July) in a contest that international supporters hope will help patch the African nation's deep divisions.

EU officials on Thursday (4 July) urged Egypt's military-backed government to refrain from bloodshed and to quickly restore democracy, just hours after the army  took charge for the second time in less than three years following anti-government revolts.

The recent agreement between Kosovo and Serbia requires that all parallel structures such as police or courts in the Serbia-populated Northern Kosovo should be dismantled, Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj told  EurActic Slovakia in an exclusive interview.

Serbia has rejected a European Union-brokered plan to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo, a move that could hurt Belgrade's hopes of starting membership talks with the bloc.

Europe's leaders have a veritable Rubik’s cube of political considerations to solve in 2014 in order to appoint a new EU leadership triumvirate, writes Hugo Brady, giving his take on who are the up-and-comers in a changing European balance of power.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said yesterday (18 March) she would step down when her term expires at the end of 2014, BBC reported. Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who was appointed for the top job together with Ashton in November 2009, also announced that he would retire from politics.

Kosovo marked five years since it seceded from Serbia on Sunday (17 February), with flag-filled streets, a military parade and growing signs of progress in EU-mediated talks to regulate relations between the Balkan neighbours.

A consequence of the failure's of the UN Special Representative for Iraq is that his actions are making the international community lose credibility, argues British MP David Amess.

The Lisbon Treaty introduced a major institutional innovation in the field of external relations by creating a common diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS). During the past 20 months this service has progressively been set up. With some 3,000 officials and an annual budget of around €500 million, it is still small but unique in its talents and language skills.

The Obama administration is busy fighting for re-election and has already failed to produce a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So now might be the time for Europe to take the lead, argue Dimitris Bouris and Stuart Reigeluth.

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday (18 April) to change the future direction of the EU's human rights policy and pave the way for a new position of "human rights czar".  

The recent World Bank report which draws a bleak picture of Palestinian state building projects reveals the real problem which is the absence of political objectives behind those initiatives, argues Dimitris Bouris.