Federica Mogherini - New European Union "High Representative for the CFSP"

UPDATE:  I'm learning more about Ms. Mogherini and some of it I"ll freely confess that I like.  She was recruited into Prime Minister Renzi's government after she posted a "sharp-tongued" tweet about him.  Rather than being threatened, he made her part of his government.  That Renzi was able to take constructive criticism says something for him.  Next and very big to me were the steps she took to help rescue a Christian -- Mariam Ibrahim -- under persecution -- a death sentence for her Christianity in the Sudan.  As Foreign Ministser of Italy, Ms. Mogherini worked for her release.  I am touched by the picture of her holding Ms. Ibrahim's young son, one of two born while she was held in cruel confinement for her Christianity.

This is from a Yahoo news "slideshow":  http://tinyurl.com/o53e4v9

 The European Union has named a new face to replace Catherine Ashton for the job originally created by and for Javier Solana.  Her name is Federica Mogherin:  High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.  She is a relatively young woman (41), well schooled in political science and political experience.  Her experience appears to come from the far left wing of politics.  She was formerly a member of Italy's  Italian Communist Youth Federation.  The Wikipedia reference can be accessed by clicking here.  Unlike Catherine Ashton who came inexperienced to the job, Ms. Mogherini has served for the past 7 months as Italy's Foreign Minister.

According to Wikipedia:

A member of the Italian Communist Youth Federation from 1988, in 1996 she joined the Youth Left after the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party and its transformation into a social-democratic party. In 2001 she joined the National Council of the Democrats of the Left (DS), and then in the National Executive Board and the Political Committee. In 2003 she started working at the DS's Foreign Affairs Department, where she was given responsibility for relations with international movements and parties, and later became the coordinator of the Department; finally, she was given responsibility for Foreign Affairs and International Relations in the staff of Piero Fassino, the party chairman. During this time, she took care of matters relating to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the peace process in Middle East. She maintained relations with the Party of European Socialists, the Socialist International, and their member parties.Moreover, she was in charge of relations with the USDemocratic Party.

Her goal is to end the Ukrainian crisis by re-establishing relations between Russia and the Ukraine, per the Wikipedia source.  According to observer, writer Joaquin Roy, she has both critics and challenges:

For her part, Mogherini will have to face traditional problems and new challenges. The establishment already mistrusts her because of her age. She will find little support from a group of people, most of whom could be her parents.

On the Commission, where she is vice president, she will hardly be comforted by the handful of women Juncker manages to recruit. On the Council she will have the support of only four ladies, led by Angela Merkel, in a boardroom full of boring men in dark suits and dreadful ties, each of them obsessed with managing foreign policy on their own terms and at their own risk.
The worst of the bad omens for the appointment is the suspicion that the EU’s hard core does not believe the position of High Representative to be important, given that the main security and defence competences remain in the national domains.

Mogherini’s second challenge, like that of her predecessor Catherine Ashton of the United Kingdom, is to cope with the enduring imprint of the founder of the position, Javier Solana of Spain.

She looks like an intriguing new figure on the international scene.  This should be interesting to watch.

Stay tuned!

CONSTANCE