Today's Quote

A snapshot shows EU foreign policy chief Ashton (middle) and her envoy for the Balkans Robert Cooper (left) panicking clueless before their meeting with Nikolic.

CA: "Robert, somebody has got to come with me because I don't know what he looks like!"

RC: "Nor do I."

CA: "Who knows, who knows what he looks like?".

JO: "I have a picture."

A dialogue between EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton (CA), and Robert Cooper (RC), who is the EU's lead negotiator with Serbia and a senior British diplomat, before their talks with Serbia's new President Tomislav Nikolic, caught on film revealing that Ashton and Cooper have no idea what Nikolic looks like.

A full blown diplomatic crisis is only averted when a more junior official, whose face cannot be seen, curtly inject to say, "I have a picture."