Haiti: action before photo-ops
Criticism of Catherine Ashton not going to Haiti shows why a Commission not directly answerable to the electorate has its advantages. Most national politicians fly to disaster areas for domestic political reasons. The last thing Haiti wants is herds of VIPs using valuable airport space and requiring attention, but with nothing to offer solely because of their presence.
The EU Foreign Policy chief called an immediate meeting of the EU Council which agreed an aid package in excess of €400m. She stated that the UN has requested that she and other dignitaries do not visit the island, so as not to disrupt the emergency aid activities. Outgoing Development & Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, would be going. And yet, it seems that Ashton was criticized in France for not going.
There are enough problems in forging a common foreign and security policy without such irresponsible criticism.
Rated 6th most influential EU blog by Waggener Edstrom. European of British nationality, for nearly 30 years Bruxellois. Deep believer in the principle of 'mutuality' and Monnet's axiom "Thought cannot be divorced from action", equivalent to Wang Yangming's "Zhixingheyi". 