Britain warns EU fall-girl Ashton to beware Brussels turf war

(BRUSSELS) - Embattled European foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton was warned Thursday by her own government that a Brussels turf war is diluting a powerful new diplomatic corps she officially leads.

English baroness Ashton, who is uniquely responsible both to the 27 member states that fund the European Union and the independent executive that manages its day-to-day affairs, was urged to beware the latter seizing control of her network.

Machinations to secure powerful ambassadorial jobs within the EU's new External Action Service, a multi-million-euro global network ultimately assembling thousands of staff, have reached fever pitch as an April deadline to agree its scope and structure looms.

Britain and others fear Jose Manuel Barroso, Ashton's boss at the European Commission, has already secured key personnel, management and budgetary influence -- following a row over the appointment of a new ambassador in Washington.

And with the release to the media of a letter to Ashton written by London's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt, behind-the-scenes negotiating tensions amid jockeying for top jobs surged to the surface.

The EAS "will only work if the European Commission, the member states and the council secretariat are able to work together coherently," Miliband and Bildt wrote, as a tug-of-war intensifies over some 30 key nominations due in coming months.

"We are concerned about some of the inter-institutional struggles evident in our current negotiations," they warned.

While an "intimate relationship" with the commission is required, they insisted that the EAS "must have the keys to its own house."

And "recruitment of staff should be transparent and based on merit," the pair added, in a clear reference to the recent row about the Washington appointment, which went to a close ally of Barroso's in Joao Vale de Almeida.

Bildt has already said in a previous letter to all his EU colleagues that the Washington decision was taken by Barroso's commission.

Institutional squabbling between the countries that fund the EU, the commission that polices it and the elected parliament newly-empowered to scrutinise its laws is a permanent feature of European political life.

But Miliband's move still represents an embarrassing slapdown to his ex-cabinet colleague on the eve of talks between EU foreign ministers in Cordoba, Spain, at which the shape and scope of the EAS is the key item to be hammered out.

A British diplomat underlined that Ashton "needs support" to deliver what member states want, but that "the commission is resisting."

Meanwhile, a European diplomat added that the closer it gets to the April deadline, "the harder it has become for (the commission) to give up bits of the machine."

As foreign ministers from the 27 EU nations debate EAS priorities including how to deal with near-neighbours, conflict or crisis areas and major trade partners or economic rivals, Ashton must once again pack her flak-jacket.

It is her first appearance at these key informal talks, and comes hard on the heels of failure to attend a similar, first meeting of defence ministers since her shock appointment during another carve-up of top EU jobs before Christmas.

Berated for her absence then, Ashton insisted last month that the Washington job was "my decision."

However, the clip around the ears from her former London paymasters may make it even more difficult to keep a lid on inbuilt in-fighting, already fuelled by perceptions of her weakness in the new role of High Representative for foreign and security affairs.

Already criticised as lacking experience, Ashton has also been slammed roundly for not rushing to Haiti after a devastating earthquake on Janury 12.

She finally made the trip on Wednesday, as fresh quakes had struck Chile and now Taiwan.