I never liked the idea of Baroness Ashton running EU foreign policy.
Now blogger and Telegraph journalist Bruno Waterfield is gunning for over her invisibility during her first year in place:
Lady Ashton does not possess the political nous or commitment of an elected politician. Apart from one or two months last year, she has shown herself to be unwilling to travel or work over weekends. Working Monday to Friday might be fine for a jobsworth public official or serial quango/Lords appointee but it’s not good enough for an EU foreign minister. People who want to change the world have to give up prosaic ideas like the work/life balance.
And here’s Ronny Patz:
when you are in Brussels, a lot of people complain about the way EU “foreign minister” Ashton works….
I doubt that with her limited amount of involvement into the core Commission work (represented through her participation record) she really was having her voice heard