Jean-Pierre Stroobants A former deputy editor of Belgian daily Le Soir, Jean-Pierre Stroobants now works as Le Monde's correspondent in Brussels, covering stories from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Catherine Ashton was cast as Europe’s international voice, the head diplomat of an EU full of world-wide ambitions. Unfortunately, she is not making her voice heard, is nearly invisible and has already lost the confidence of most of the member states. 
In light of the absence of progress on the issue of Roma integration, host countries and the countries of origin are continuing to bounce accusations and blame back and forth. Brussels, meanwhile, is exasperated by the fact that the projects it is financing are either advancing too slowly, or not at all. 
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.