EU representative talks foreign policy, Middle East

By Tina Nazerian     2/14/13 6:00pm

 

Foreign policy in the Middle East and the role of the European Union's High Representative were the main focus at the Baker Institute Monday night as Lady Catherine Ashton had a conversation with Baker Institute Founding Director and Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian. 

Ashton, the high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union, said her top priorities in foreign policy are maintaining the reliable relationship between Europe and the United States, bettering Europe's relationships with neighboring countries and building relationships with other countries. 

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Ashton said there is a difference between building nations and helping to build any nation going through a transition. 

"My first comment to everyone is [that] it's your country ... and you need to build it, and it won't look the same as mine or any of the 27 that I know very well," Ashton said. "And we will support you, but what we ask of you is that you build a country that carries the same values that we do. Our challenge is to help them get what we've got but in a way that works for them." 

Ashton said she believes the treatment of women in a given country reveals the treatment of everyone else there. 

"So I say to Egyptians and to President [Mohamed] Morsi, 'I will judge you by what happens to the women,'" Ashton said. "If the women are participating in politics and economics, the women are fulfilling their ambitions and [are] being seen to play a key role in your society, your society's probably got a lot going for it." 

Concerning Syria, Ashton said the first challenge is making sure the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, leaves office and that the second challenge is then transitioning into the future. 

"For us, it's about two things, particularly backing [United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar] Brahimi ... [and] trying to find a way to break the deadlock in the security council, trying to find a way to move forward," Ashton said. 

In regard to the current state of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Ashton said that Europe has clear views about a solution. 

"You need to have territory based on the '67 lines with land swaps," Ashton said. "We recognize [that] the situation is not the same as it was, that you need to have Jerusalem as a capital for both, that you need to work out what you're going to do about all the refugees," Ashton said. "But this is by no means an insolvable problem." 

Djerejian asked how Ashton's job played into former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's on how to contact European diplomats about foreign policy for the continent. 

Ashton said she would be the point person who international diplomats could call to get in contact with each individual European country's government. 

Wiess College freshman Vicky Comesanas said the talk offered a different point of view about issues in the Middle East. 

"I really enjoyed it, and I think that it was very eye-opening," Comesanas said. "Americans don't really know a lot of the world outside of the United States, and it was very interesting to ... see ... the conflict in Syria and ... other conflicts in the Middle East from a perspective other than an American perspective." 

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