Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, wrote on 19 February to foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton complaining about the manner in which way Joao Vale de Almeida was recently appointed ambassador in Washington (see post dated 19 February). Bildt asks how the appointment was made, pending adoption of new rules governing the procedure, but with [...]
José Manuel Barroso was yesterday given a second term as Commission president by the European Parliament, which voted 382 for, 210 against with 117 abstentions. This was an unexpectedly large majority – in fact the absolute majority which the Lisbon Treaty would have required. Barroso rightly claimed “reinforced authority” after this decisive victory, but what [...]
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