EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
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Institutions: Seek them here, seek them there...
28 January 20101 Le Monde Paris -
European Council: Some life lessons from Brussels
24 November 200938 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
European Council: Herman who? Catherine what?
20 November 200965 Presseurop -
High Representative: The bureaucratic monster at her feet
20 November 20091 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
European Council: Electing the president, behind closed doors
18 November 200913 Presseurop -
Institutions: A man's man's man's EU
17 November 200921 La Stampa Turin -
Nominations: Van Rompuy fades, Miliband folds
10 November 2009PresseuropLe Soir -
Foreign policy: The peacekeeper's lament
21 October 2009Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Warsaw -
After Lisbon (4): EU top diplomat, a much better job
12 October 2009The Daily Telegraph London
Catherine Ashton off the radar, Herman Van Rompuy vanished from view, and José Manuel Barroso defending his prerogatives as European Commissioner : the new institutions established by the Lisbon Treaty, which were supposed to simplify the action of the European Union, are clearly undergoing some teething problems, says Le Monde. 
What do the recent appointments of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton at the top of Commission have to teach us about the European Union? About five things, according to Paweł Lisicki, editor in chief of Warsaw daily Rzeczpospolita, and not one of them easy to digest. 
The appointment of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to the post of President of the European council and British Commissioner for Trade Catherine Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Affairs has not been well received by the European press, which was hoping for more charismatic European representatives. 
With her appointment as the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton has become overnight one of the world’s most powerful women. But her role, considered even more prestigious than that of EU President, is not without pitfalls, reports Der Spiegel. 
On 19 November, leaders of Europe's 27 member states will settle the question of who is to head the European Council and the EU's diplomatic service. However, for the European press, a process which should have marked a milestone on the road to European integration has been marred by a lack of transparency. 
Though women make up the majority of the European population, they are underrepresented in key institutional posts. As the 27 convene to pick the personages to hold the highest offices in the Union, women are demanding action on the parity principle. 
Diplomats, soldiers, policemen: from the Balkans to Afghanistan, the EU is deploying more or less ambitious peacekeeping missions. But in a report two experts assert that lack of organisation or commitment from member states means that the results often fall short of expectation, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. 
With cross the board ratification of the Lisbon treaty imminent, Con Coughlin in the Daily Telegraph points out that even with Tony Blair as first EU president, the role will be largely ceremonial. Real power will be concentrated in the hands of the High Representative for foreign and security policy.