mr president baroness ashton's role is described in article eighteen of the treaty on european union as contributing to the development of a common foreign and security policy as mandated by the council which of course contains the representatives of nation states
however the same article states that she must be a vice-president of the commission from which she operates
furthermore i understand that former commission staff will be given preference over the staff of diplomatic and foreign ministries when staff are appointed to the external action service
baroness ashton it is clear that your role was designed to undermine continually the influence over foreign policy by member states not only individually but also collectively on the council
you and your successors will be mandated by the council only on paper
the real driving force behind the eu's foreign policy will be the commission member states and the council will be continually marginalised
