From AFP:  The EU’s new member states are being sidelined as the 27-nation bloc’s new diplomatic corps takes shape, with western Europe cornering the top jobs, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Monday.

Appointments are yet to be finalised, but just two ambassadors are being tapped from the ex-communist bloc, he said, referring to ambassadorial positions at diplomatic missions representing the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body.

"Now why is that? I don’t know. Are old member states’ diplomats smarter? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I do think the rules were made in a way that some people had a preference," Ilves said.

"A situation in which you have two people from Eastern Europe, where there are 100 million people… and seven from Belgium, where there are 10 million, is not a viable way of creating the belief in people that the foreign policy institution of the EU is in their interests."  (photo: Getty) (via GlobalEurope)

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