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Urgent progress is now needed toward a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and the European Union will continue to support all efforts toward that goal
EU chief calls for Mideast peace progress Jan 05, 2011
In order for Albania to progress on its European path, we once again urge Albanian politicians to engage in a constructive political dialogue to resolve without any further delay the longstanding political stalemate and to mobilize the countries' energies to this end
EU calls for calm in Albania Jan 24, 2011
I have decided to dispatch this high-level mission to provide me with first-hand, real-time information to feed into the discussions leading up to Friday's extraordinary European Council, when I will update heads of state and government on the situation
Libyan civil war ups pressure on EU Mar 07, 2011
It is critical we make a gesture before the summer, because we need to contribute to a calming of a volatile situation that promises to be even more so as the year progresses
EU pushes Mideast conference despite U.S. Jun 15, 2011
Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, PC (born 20 March 1956) is a British politician belonging to the Labour Party who has been the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (EU) since 1 December 2009 when the post was created. She is also the First-Vice-President of the European Commission (since February 2010). She prefers to be known as Cathy Ashton.
A British Labour politician, Ashton was made a life peer in 1999 by the Labour government and held junior ministerial appointments in three government departments. She was later appointed Leader of the House of Lords and, in that role, was instrumental in steering the Treaty of Lisbon through Britain's Upper House. In 2008, she succeeded Peter Mandelson as Commissioner for Trade in the European Commission. In December 2009 she became the first person to take on the newly enlarged High Representative role for the EU as created by the Treaty of Lisbon.
Catherine Ashton was born in Upholland, Lancashire on 20 March 1956. Her father, Harold, was a civil engineer and came from a working class family, with a background in coal mining going back generations. She attended Upholland Grammar School in Billinge Higher End, Lancashire, then Wigan Mining and Technical College in Wigan. Ashton graduated with a BSc in sociology in 1977 from Bedford College, London (now part of Royal Holloway, University of London). She was the first woman in her family to attend a university.