Ouch - parsing the Conclusions makes uneasy reading for Ashton

The Conclusions of the European Council this week are out. Amusingly they are always released to journalists a few days before the meeting takes place, making the word conclusions rather apposite, but I digress. If these were written early as they normally are they will have been written before the UN debacle of Monday night. In that case what is written in them is even more coruscating.

It will in future regularly discuss external relations in order to set strategic orientations in advance of key events, in particular with a view to defining key messages on our objectives and on the means to achieve them. This requires clear strategic guidance by the European Council on the basis of an effective preparation by the High Representative and by the Council.

These documents are normally the preserve of EU Kremlinologists, but the message in this is loud and clear. Baroness Ashton has been an utter failure as High Representative, and the Council is making it pretty obvious that they feel that she has not been either able to "set strategic guidance" or indeed had any "effective preparation".

Ouch