UK foreign minister William Hague has pledged support for the EU's diplomatic service and economic growth agenda in a surprisingly mild policy statement.
"It is true that we in the Conservative Party were not persuaded of the case for the new EU External Action Service as a service, but its existence is now a fact ...Britain's Conservative government will work closely with the high representative, whom we wish well," he wrote on Tuesday (18 May)
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.