The EU leaders, surprisingly, appointed Baroness Ashton as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, with the agreement of the European Commission President. Ms Ashton was no one first choice and her name came up out of the blue at a meeting of the centre left EU leaders few hours before the summit.

It has been reported in several newspapers that Sarkozy has supported the appointment of Ms Ashton in exchange of France getting the internal market and financial services portfolio. William Hague has demanded an explanation from the Government on what has been agreed at the EU summit but no concrete answer was given. At a House of Commons debate, on 23 November, William Hague said “We wish Lady Ashton well in her appointment, but it would be a very serious matter if the price of adopting the Government's third choice as High Representative meant that policy on the internal market and on financial services, in particular, was taken in a direction that was not in keeping with the interests of Britain.” David Miliband denied the accusations and said that the European Commission’s portfolios are a responsibility of the President of the Commission. Yes they are, but France would never come out of the summit empty hands.

Baroness Ashton fulfils all the requirements of the EU leader’s unwritten agreement, she is from the centre left, from a big country and she is a woman. Nevertheless, she has never been elected to a public office and she has no foreign affairs experience. She was just as surprised as we are that she has not even prepared a speech.

Ms Ashton worked for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and chaired the Hertfordshire health authority. In 1999, she started at the House of Lords and subsequently was appointed State Secretary for Education, Constitutional Affairs and Justice. In 2007, Gordon Brown named her Leader of the House of Lords. She played a key role in pushing the Lisbon Treaty ratification through parliament. In October 2008, she became the European commissioner for trade replacing Peter Mandelson, just because Gordon Brown wanted to avoid a by-election. In Brussels, her main achievement was initialling a free trade agreement with South Korea.

Catherine Ashton assumes her new post on 1 December but she and the other members of the Commission will be subject as a body to a vote of approval by the European Parliament.

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will prepare, decide on and execute matters related to foreign and security affairs. Catherine Ashto will be both the Council’s representative for the common foreign and security policy and one of the Commission’s vice-presidents. The post merges the positions of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, currently held by Javier Solana and the European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Being a vice president of the Commission she will be responsible within the Commission for responsibilities given to it in external relations and for coordinating other aspects of the Union's external action. In exercising her responsibilities within the Commission, she will be bound by Commission procedures. The CFSP is an intergovernmental matter and, in this way a Commission member will be too involved in the Council’s work. She will serve supranational and intergovernmental matters. She will serve the interests of the Council and of the Commission which are most likely to be conflicting.

The General Affairs and External Relations Council will be split in two. The High Representative will chair the Foreign Affairs Council whereas the General Affairs Council will be chaired by the Prime Minister of the Council rotating presidency.

The High Representative will have the right of initiative in foreign and security policy matters. Under the Lisbon Treaty, the Member States, the High Representative or the High Representative with the support of the Commission can refer questions or submit proposals on CFSP to the Council. It seems that the Commission can no longer submit proposals to the Council relating to the CFSP by itself but through the High Representative. However, the High Representative is one of the Vice presidents of the Commission. Ms Ashton will share, therefore, with each Member State the power to submit proposals regarding the CFSP to the Council.

Moreover, under the Lisbon Treaty, decisions relating to the common security and defence policy, including initiating a military mission will be adopted by the Council acting unanimously however the member states will have to share their right of initiative with the High Representative, this means that the Commission might be involved on such decisions. The Lisbon Treaty stipulates that the Council may adopt decisions concerning the use of civilian and military in joint disarmament operations, humanitarian and rescue tasks, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention missions, post-conflict stabilisation missions but it will be for the High Representative to “ensure coordination of civilian and military aspects of such tasks.”

Furthermore, it is important to recall that the Lisbon Treaty introduced a "solidarity clause" whereby the Union as well as each Member State has to provide assistance to a Member State affected by a human or natural disaster or by a terrorist attack. The decisions on the implementation of the solidarity clause will be made by the Council, acting by QMV, on a joint proposal by the Commission and the High Representative.

Ms Ashton will be responsible to conduct political dialogue with third countries such as the US, Russia, China, etc. The EU has been represented by the Member State holding the rotating presidency, but now the High Representative is in charge of expressing the “Union” common positions at international organizations and international conferences.

The existing EU Treaty stipulates that the “Member States which are also members of the United Nations Security Council will concert and keep the other Member States fully informed.” However, under the Lisbon Treaty, those member states, meaning UK and France, will have to ensure “(…) the defence of the positions and the interests of the Union.” The UK would no longer be free to act independently within the Security Council. Moreover, they will have to “request that the High Representative be asked to present the Union's position” if there is a common position on a subject which is on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. It is a matter for the Security Council and not for the Union who appears before it. Nevertheless, Catherine Ashton may, therefore, speak on behalf of the Union in the United Nations Security Council.

The Union will be represented by the High Representative for matters relating to the common foreign and security policy, together with the President of the European Council, on issues other than CFSP, the external representation of the Union, will be ensured by the Commission. It remains to be seen how the powers of the members of the future troika, the commission president, the High Representative and the European Council President will be balanced. There are important issues of accountability at stake. Barroso is particularly happy with these nominations, no wonder, he was the biggest winner. He won't be overshadowed by any of them and will take the opportunity to exercise more influence over foreign policy. It seems Mr Van Rompuy will be more concern with his job as an “internal conciliator” rather than projecting himself on the international stage. Hence, he won’t reduce Ms Ashton and Barroso roles.

Yes, Catherine Ashton is hardly known in the world stage, she has limited foreign policy experience, particularly, she has no experience in defence and security matters. Ms Ashton might be a low profile figure with lack of international experience but the powers are there for her, and subsequent High Representatives, to use. Plus, she has Barroso to help her out who, in the end of the day, is her boss.

According to Gordon Brown, Catherine Ashton’s appointment "gives Britain a powerful voice both within the European Council and the Commission" and "It will ensure that Britain's voice is very loud and clear. It will ensure that we will remain, as I want us to be, at the heart of Europe […]” But, would Ms Ashton be able to stand up for the UK interests? No, she is required to perform her duties in the Communities’ interests.