INTERNATIONAL: Woman at the Helm but Too Few Below? Greens Dismiss EU's New Diplomatic Corps as Old Boys Club

Catherine Ashton may have struck a blow for gender equality last year when she was appointed the European Union's foreign affairs chief, but she came under fire Wednesday for naming only seven women among 28 new diplomats for the international organization.

Greens lawmakers in the European Parliament dismissed Ashton's first batch of appointments to her fledgling diplomatic service as "an old boys club."

Ashton defended the appointments, saying the diplomats she named Wednesday are "the best people for the right jobs."
"I am pleased that we have made a start to address the important issues of geographical and gender balance," Ashton said. "These appointments show an improvement in both, but there is more to do."

Franziska Brantner, foreign affairs spokeswoman of the Greens in the European Parliament, said the appointments confirmed the group's fears that the new EU diplomatic corps "would become an old boys' club." She said the small number of women "is an insult to 250 million European women."

The EU's 27 nations have been lobbying fiercely for positions in the so-called External Action Service, with smaller nations and those who only joined the bloc recently fearing their candidates could be overlooked in favour of larger EU powers.

Samuel Zbogar, the foreign minister of tiny Slovenia, whose two candidates for diplomatic posts were overlooked in Wednesday's appointments, summed up the disappointment of small and new EU members.

The new foreign service "doesn't really look European, but more old European" because only three EU newcomers got their representatives into the service, the state-run news agency STA quoted Zbogar as saying.

Slovenia, a country of 2 million people, joined the EU in 2004.

"The first wave of appointments is a missed opportunity," he said.

He said he would bring up the issue with Ashton at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

Germany's Markus Ederer was given the plum posting of Beijing. His deputy was one of the seven female appointments, Carmen Cano De Lasala of Spain.

The six other women were posted to Jordan, Senegal, Gabon, Haiti, Lebanon and Chad. Men were sent to posts from Albania to Zambia.

Dozens more appointments will be announced in coming weeks.