… when EU influence at the UN has been in decline for several years, and in particular in the UN Human Rights Council, where the West used to be unassailable: in the past, the EU could count on the support of 72% of UN countries, today it can only count on about half of them. Experience has shown that targeted lobbying to forge alliances, in particular with African countries, can restore the image [of the EU], and this approach could be adopted by a special human rights representative.

Even if the proposal is approved by the foreign ministers, the post will not be officially created until June, when the EU plans to present its new policy on human rights.

Before then, however, Angela Merkel and Wen Jiabao will have dined “at an idyllic spot on the shores of Lake Wannsee” in the German capital. Relations between Germany and China have been strained ever since Angela Merkel received the Dalai Lama on an official visit in 2007. Berlin is now hoping to establish more cordial relations with a country that is crucial to its economy. In 2010, trade between Germany and China was worth 130 billion euros.

Furthermore, recent events such as the Arab revolutions place Europe in a strategic location which President Obama cannot afford to neglect. “The United States needs the British and the French as well as NATO, both militarily and financially,” Le Monde notes. Barack Obama is “courting the Europeans also on the Israeli-Palestinian question,” on which Washington fears isolation “when the time comes to take a stand on the recognition of the Palestinian State, in September at the UN”. This recognition is a “powerful divisive factor” for the Europeans, the paper notes.

Member states, who of course chose Ms Ashton to act exactly as she has, each follow their own agenda – the creation of a joint army by France and the UK, who together sought UN approval to take action against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and France’s recent military action alongside Alassane Ouattara’s troops in Ivory Coast are two recent examples among many.

Let’s face it: taxpayer money spent on the EEAS is money thrown out the window. The service’s €570 million annual budget for civil, military and humanitarian action – action yet to be seen – could be spent more effectively. Timid and voiceless, the service discreetly bows out to the Union’s national governments, which defend their own turf. This despite the fact that timidity, Lady Ashton, was not among the principles brandished by the EU’s founding fathers!

The EU can either accept this shortcoming and adapt – by abandoning its pursuit of a common foreign policy worthy of the name – or say no, and take a new approach. European diplomacy boarded a train which until now has taken it nowhere, conducted by an engineer who, lacking in courage and initiative, should hand over the controls to a more inspired candidate before the train reaches the station. Anyone?

In the interest of fairness, we should bear in mind that the European Council has adopted “restrictive measures in view of the situation in Libya,” and it is not the only power whose reaction has been marked by hesitation and a lack of incisiveness: to wit, the timid response from the United States. At the same time, European diplomats in Brussels, New York and Tripoli – and more recently in Cairo and Tunis – are hard at work in the drive to resolve a critical situation that has to be approached with foresight and caution. But the fact remains that Europe has yet to demonstrate that it has the capacity to ‘act’ – rather than ‘simply react’ – to dramatic developments in a region with which it has maintained close links since ancient times.

In the coming week, which may prove to be a turning point, national leaders are to meet in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting of the European Council devoted to Libya on 11 March. Governments across Europe, are examining the case for military and humanitarian aid, but the exercise of either of these options will not obviate the need for a long-term political and economic strategy to develop the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The Libyan summit is to be followed by another crucial meeting on the future of the single European currency. At the event, which will be restricted to the 17 leaders of Eurozone countries, discussions will focus on the strengthening of Europe’s Stability Fund and the Competitiveness Pact proposed by France and Germany, at a time when rumours of a Portuguese bailout are ever more insistent. Final decisions on these issues are expected to be announced at the European Council meeting of 25 March.

In his thesis, which was published 80 years ago, Belgian historian Henri Pirenne argued that "Charlemagne could not have existed without Muhammad." That is to say that without the spread of Islamic power on most of the shores of the Mediterranean, post-Roman Europe would never have been forced to develop new internal trade routes, forge new political alliances or relocate its centre of power to northern Europe. In short, the fact that it was driven back from the Mediterranean played a key role in enabling the King of the Franks to establish a Holy Roman Empire based in Germany.

Today, at a time when North Africa is rocked by dramatic political upheavals, the European Union is once again in the process of redefining its economic, monetary and fiscal mechanisms – two phenomena that are independent but also closely linked. Unlike Charlemagne, the current generation of European leaders cannot afford to turn their backs on the Mediterranean, but must come to terms with the inevitable integration of Arab countries in a global society and economy where Europe is increasingly marginalised. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have virtually no chance of convincing their partners to accept their Competitiveness Pact, but all of Europe’s leaders will nonetheless have to determine measures and means to extricate the EU from the vulnerability and uncertainty that has paralysed it for more than a year.

On 11 March, they will have to find a solution to strengthen Europe’s economy, restore confidence in its single currency and outline more ambitious international policies.

Translated from the French by Mark McGovern

The prevailing lack of transparency and inertia are reminiscent of the worst absurdities of the Soviet era. Ten years ago the sinking of the Koursk submarine highlighted the Russian government’s inability to face up to catastrophes, and its current attitude is proof that little has changed.

How can we trust authorities in Russia when they insist that the burning of 4,000 hectares of forest contaminated by Chernobyl has not resulted in an increase in radioactivity? How can we trust them when on the occasion of a recent conversation with the EU’s High Representative of Foreign Affairs, which focused on European solidarity and the offer of assistance from the EU, the Russian diplomatic chief avoided mentioning plans to deploy S-300 missile batteries in Abkhazia that were officially announced just a few minutes later? Without surrendering to the paranoia which on occasion prevails in former Eastern Bloc countries, the EU will have to adopt a firmer and more self-assured line in its relations with Moscow. Without trust and mutual respect we cannot hope to build a stable partnership with Russia. Gian Paolo Accardo

Warsaw takes the view that the plan "could pave the way for more common diplomatic initiatives within the EU." However, the current proposals are limited to the sharing of real estate with no real scope for shared diplomacy because the Visegrád Group is an informal structure, which has no mandate to represent its members in third countries. The Prague daily further points out that embassy real-estate sharing is already practiced by Scandinavian countries "who make use of common embassy buildings in faraway countries, and also in Berlin."

The decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has been mired in controversy this week. Scottish Justice Minster Kenny MacAskill will make a decision in the next few days on the repatriation of al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer. The US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has waded into the debate by personally contacting MacAskill, to lobby against al-Megrahi's release. The Guardian previously raised suspicions after he mysteriously withdrew his appeal for release in a Scottish court. To some, this reinforced speculation that the British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson and Colonel Gadaffi's son met whilst Mandelson was on holiday in Corfu, in Greece, and confirmed a deal.

The bombing of the plane which was flying between London and New York, killed 270 people in 1988. It crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 57, was convicted in 2001 for life, although doubts are still raised as to whether he received a fair trial.