No cigar: on Kosovo’s new deal, Catherine Ashton and the “single voice”

... voice” on any issue outside of it is far from being a reality. Mrs Ashton chose the role of a spokesperson for, and arbitrator between, the member states of an international organisation. That approach, and her remarkable mediation skills, as proved by Kosovo and Serbia’s new hopes, has its place in European policy-making. But in times of a rapidly changing and increasingly unstable world, the EU needs more to maintain its position. It needs more than just well-tested enlargement as a foreign policy tool. It needs a true, comprehensive, common foreign policy. It needs unity, unity, unity. For that, strategic vision, personal initiative, strong leadership are needed. Catherine Ashton is not the woman for that. Whether ...