Plane crazy?
Waiting for a lift? Baroness Ashton last week at Haiti's main airfield
Photo: Europa.eu
It seems EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is dreaming of a jet plane. The EU luminary, who came under fire for failing to attend key meetings recently, has suggested that this is exactly what she needs if she is to raise her profile and keep all her essential foreign engagements.
At the moment Baroness Ashton is forced to rely on a combination of last-minute commercial airline bookings and lifts from EU foreign ministers and national air forces. Yet it seems this is having a negative impact on her job, in which she is expected to clock up 500,000 km of travel a year.
Last month the newly-appointed foreign policy chief came under fire for failing to turn up to a two-day meeting of EU defence ministers in favour of attending the new Ukrainian president's inauguration. Had a private plane been available, she could arguably have made both engagements with ease.
Lady Ashton's office said it is making enquiries into leasing a jet to ease the pressures of her demanding travel schedule, but hastened to dismiss rumours she wants to purchase an EU "Air Force One". Given the current economic climate in Europe, this would not go down well. Plus, as Euranet's Brussel correspondent Nina-Maria Potts points out, it could trigger a form of air envy, with every senior EU official demanding a bigger and better plane of their own.
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by Charles Smyth
14.03.2010
United Kingdom