… 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.

Brussels’ excuse is that Catherine Ashton was not invited, but the Swedish paper won’t buy it: “The only thing that kept her from going to Norway was her desire to please the greatest number.” “The message is plain”, observes Dagens Nyheter: “her showing up at Oslo’s town hall would have put a serious dent in relations with China.” Representatives of all EU member states were there at the ceremony, to be sure, but she should have been there too: “In her capacity as European diplomacy chief, Catherine Ashton could easily have joined the group and shed her usual excess of caution to stand up for the rights of Liu Xiaobo. If the EU itself won’t defend the values that unite it, how can states do so in their dealings with the world’s premier dictatorship?”

La Vanguardia points out that "most of the prisoners believe that their release is a step on the road to change." However, they do not think it should be viewed as proof that human rights and pluralist democracy will soon prevail on the island. One of the freed dissidents, Normando Hernández, who had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, described the Cuban government’s decision as "a smokescreen," and further insisted abandoning the Common Position would be an “aberration” because "its objectives have yet to be attained." This view not shared by Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who, during a recent visit to the island, announced that there was "no reason" for the EU to maintain its Common Position on Cuba.