Parliament approves new trade commissioner
The European Parliament has approved the appointment of Baroness Catherine Ashton as the new trade commissioner.
Each of the 27 member states of the European Union nominates a commissioner and it fell to the United Kingdom to appoint a new representative to cover the area of trade when Peter Mandelson left Brussels on October 3—immediately after announcing a review of the anti-dumping measures in place for imports of leather shoes from Vietnam and China—to return to a UK government role.
Catherine Ashton is an economist who had been the government’s lead representative in the second tier of the UK parliament, the House of Lords.
Before her appointment received approval, she had to face a series of questions on trade matters from members of the European Parliament on October 20.
