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Hague: 'The EU could not or should not act as if it were a nation state with a national foreign policy' (Photo: fco.gov.uk)

UK champions own diplomacy over EU 'action service'

British foreign minister William Hague has in a landmark speech depicted the UK as a "global power" alongside a diminutive European Union useful chiefly in economic terms.

Citing a former leader from a period of British ascendancy, he told VIPs at a dinner in London on Wednesday (4 May): "In 1805 my political hero William Pitt addressed the Lord Mayor's banquet, two days after news had reached London of Nelson's victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar ... [He sa...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

Hague: 'The EU could not or should not act as if it were a nation state with a national foreign policy' (Photo: fco.gov.uk)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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