EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini - soft on Russia?

Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, talks to Voice of Russia UK about the appointment of Federica Mogherini as the High Representative Designate of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (from 00:36 and 04:12).

Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, said: “She is going to have to overcome the suspicion that a lot of Central and Eastern Europeans have about her attitude and the attitude of the Italian government to Russia. That is a big problem for her. Italy has been perceived at the soft end of the spectrum and not at all in sympathy with the position of those who are closest to Russia and feel most threatened by developments to their east.”

...One of Mogherini’s challenges will be making sure the relationship between the EU and Iran continues to run smoothly.This relationship is just as pivotal as the relationship with Russia, according to Ian Bond from Centre for European Reform.

He told VoR: “She has to build up the level of trust that Catherine Ashton has built up with the Iranian negotiator and the other members of the international community who were involved with the talks, very very quickly. Italy has not been involved in those talks with Iran. That seems to me an equally important challenge she has to meet. And it does help that she knows something about the Middle East and the problems there, but this is a really sensitive dossier where unlike many others in the world, it’s the EU which has played the leading role.””