Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski is the hottest and most talked-about candidate for the post of the head of the European diplomacy. His eventual success in getting the position of Catherine Ashton is believed to say much about the true nature of the EU-Russia relations as well as the willingness of EU member states to delegate more power to Brussels when it comes to foreign relations. Yet, Mr Sikorski’s reputation has been recently seriously struck by an eavesdropping scandal in which he allegedly described the United States’ security ties to Poland as “worthless” and “bullshit”. He has also reportedly said that Britain’s David Cameron “fucked up” the British EU policy, which is why the United Kingdom might eventually leave the EU.
Yet, the spokesperson to Radek Sikorski said last week that Mr Sikorski was not an official candidate for the office of the EU high representative while an anonymous Polish ambassador allegedly added that the job was not as enticing as it looked. The ambassador added that every single EU state is making its own decisions in foreign policy and the common EU foreign policy is used as a “scapegoat” when things go wrong. Therefore, some think that Poland should “keep Sikorski” and eventually “book” him for the strong “EU Commission portfolio”. Yet, Warsaw admits that Minister Sikorski would be a “natural choice for the EU”.
The new head of the EU diplomacy will be chosen together with the next European Commission chief and the next chief of the EU Council. The trio of successful candidates will have to satisfy all the blocks – centre-right, left-right, old, new, large, small, north, and south – and one of them should be a woman. However, competition for the posts is tough and includes Luxembourg’s centre-right Jean-Calude Juncker and Denmark’s PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Among other candidates which are talked about are Swedish FM Carl Bildt, French FM Laurent Fabius, Italian former FM Franco Frattini, Czech EU commissioner Stefan Fuele, Bulgarian EU commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, French centre-left politician Elisabeth Guigou, Slovak FM Miroslav Lajcak, Italian FM Federica Mogherini, and Dutch FM Frans Timmermans.
