EU’s Smug Moral Posturing Crossing the Line

Sally McNamara / September 15, 2010

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has today announced the appointment of more than two dozen new Ambassadors who will serve under the blue and gold flag of the European Union rather than their national colors. However, she should be keeping a closer eye on her existing corps. Having been outmaneuvered by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso in the appointment of his friend, João Vale de Almeida to the post of EU Ambassador to the United States, it is nevertheless still her responsibility to keep Almeida in line.

His public letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger demanding a stay of execution for convicted rapist and murderer Albert Greenwood Brown goes far beyond the acceptable limits of diplomatic exchange; it represents an unconscionable interference in the sovereign affairs of the State of California. Almeida states: “any miscarriage of justice…represents an irreparable loss of human life,” even though California has a rigorous appeals process and as robust a justice system as any in the world. (more…)