Has the European Union made any headway in its subsidised publishing and agitporn? Alas, no. Baroness Ashton, obscure before her appointment, now languishes second from bottom in a poll to guage popularity of the Commissioners in their own country. Whilst I am the first to laud this healthy indifference and contempt to the EU, I do enjoy the unreal descriptions of Euractiv:
But the same logic cannot be applied to Ashton. Despite being in charge of the most visible dossier on a global scale, the high representative for the European foreign affairs and defense marked a very poor performance on the Web.
Her website had fewer than 8,000 visitors in December, in the same month the European Union moved to step up sanctions against Iran and Syria.
That is definitely less than Guido. And We know why Baroness Ashton gets no publicity. It is because the Commission runs her affairs and she does not even have the power to release her own statements. In all, the role is a waste of time.
If the EU wishes to release funds for an emergency, it can take a week (the process lie) or a month (the process reality):
In one example, if the EEAS wants to release up to €20 million in emergency funds the decision must go through Ashton's secretary general, her private office, the FPI, "relevant" commission services and the Political and Security Committee (a group of EU countries' ambassadors).
Michael Mann [Ashton's spokesman] said the process takes one week. The head of delegation noted: "It takes about a month and this is supposed to be our fastest instrument."
The poor die so that bureaucrats can have the time to stamp their turf. It is the byzantine politics of the madhouse; time to leave. And what person could principally stand by, thinking that their role has any moral worth....
