European trade commissioner to leave post
23/11/2009
With the debate over duties on imports of leather shoes from Vietnam and China still raging, the trade commissioner of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, is to take up a new post in Brussels. Her departure will mean a third different trade commissioner for the European Union in only 13 months.
Her predecessor, Peter Mandelson, left the post in October 2008 to rejoin the national government in the UK. Baroness Ashton took over his position in Brussels. On November 19, however, she was appointed to the new position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
An economist by trade, Catherine Ashton made a positive impression during her year in charge of trade at the European Commission. She is reported to have considered the debate about footwear as the toughest challenge she faced in that role, but won praise from footwear manufacturers for insisting that, in dealing with the matter, she intended simply to follow the rules.
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