Posted on 07/04/2009 1:10:15 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The goal of European diplomacy is to show that if a nation such as Iran takes on one of the EU member states, it takes on all of them. But this is not the Four Musketeers: there are 27 EU nations, all with their own foreign policy objectives.
The EU was very quick to condemn Iran for the way it cracked down on presidential election protests last month. But EU co-ordination began to break down with the arrest of nine British embassy staff.
Britain won a strong statement under the Czech EU presidency. A British request for the mass withdrawal of EU ambassadors remains on the table, but in some capitals this measure is seen as too aggressive.
The EU is Iran’s largest trading partner with exports worth €11 billion. The two biggest opponents of sanctions have been Germany and Italy, which do the most business with Iran.
The huge difficulty in uniting 27 different approaches has hamstrung Javier Solana, the EU’s external affairs representative, who was chosen for his ability not to upset the big member states by trying to take radical positions.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
All the cowards care about is the money!
Don’t expect much now that Sweden has the rotating presidency of the EU. The Swedes are not known for having much testosterone in regards to foreign affairs.
It appears so.
Ummm, no. Some panty-waist European countries within the EU have seemingly shattered European unity.
Wimps.
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