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The Times

Baroness Ashton under fire for missing European defence summit

Simmering discontent across the European Union with Baroness Ashton of Upholland's performance as its first foreign minister turned into outright criticism yesterday as several senior politicians from member states attacked her for missing a key defence meeting.

The sniping at Lady Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs - who attended the inauguration of President Yanukovych in Ukraine, rather than the European defence ministers' meeting with the Nato SecretaryGeneral in Majorca - was led by the French.

It also laid bare tension between Lady Ashton, the EU's first High Representative, and the other two main EU figureheads, the presidents of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. Click here for more.