Catherine Ashton will undergo a mini-hearing at the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), on 2 December in Brussels, the day after she officially takes office as the Union’s high representative for foreign affairs. This exchange of opinions will not replace the real hearing before the MEPs in January, which is expected to be lively.

Of the two new top leaders named at the European Council of 19 November, Ashton is without doubt the more controversial. Her double role as high representative and vice-president of the European Commission has created a judicial vacuum that some had not anticipated. She will start as high representative when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, on 1 December. But she must wait for the investiture of the new Commission, in February 2010, to begin her work there. To give her some temporary legitimacy, the AFET committee therefore proposed organising a brief exchange of views with her so that “the Parliament could indicate right from start its position on various dossiers, notably the functioning of the future European External Action Service”. The Conference of Group Presidents is likely to give its approval, on 26 November in Strasbourg. The mini-hearing will not replace the main one, which will take place from 11 to 14 January 2010, along with that of the other commissioners.

Some MEPs have already said they are sceptical about the choice of Ashton, who has little political and diplomatic experience and, as a Brit, comes with all the associations of a nation that has always fought against a common foreign policy. That is the opinion of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-president of the Greens-EFA group, who said in Strasbourg, on 24 November, that “The jury is still out on Ashton [...] It is beyond comprehension that they gave the first high representative post to a Brit and the European Socialists have a top position”.

COMPROMISE CANDIDATE

Cohn-Bendit is hoping the MEPs will ask her if she supports a common European foreign policy or her country’s position, which consists of defending a Union of sovereign nations. “Ashton has two possibilities: either she aligns herself with the EU and she will always have problems in Great Britain or she can state that there can be no common European foreign policy and she will have problems at the European Parliament,” he added. For this MEP, Baroness Ashton could be put in a difficult position and has also “achieved nothing” during her year as trade commissioner.

This is not an opinion shared by Rebecca Harms, the Greens’ German co-president, who recalls that “with the transition from Mandelson to Ashton, relations with Parliament improved, she had pro-European attitude”. Harms added that Ashton is a “compromise candidate. We cannot judge her differently from other commissioners now [...] I know that Great Britain has always dragged its feet but I want to be optimistic, I want to believe there is a chance to change relations between the EU and this island”.

Martin Schulz, head of the Socialists, gave his support to the “Socialist family’s candidate,” although he recognised that his preferred candidate “was and still is” the Italian Massimo D’Alema. The EPP, which is happy to share positions with the other two groups, supported Ashton, while the Liberals remain cautious. “The nomination by the Council is not a guarantee that Ashton will automatically take up the two jobs when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force,” said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (Germany). “The Foreign Affairs Committee’s unanimous decision will show the EP is using its right to scrutinise the current trade commissioner. It is only after that that we will know if she is qualified for these important posts,” he said. Ashton can expect a tough encounter, even if the majority still appear to support her. n