An unofficial meeting of eight foreign ministers during the weekend at the Saariselkä resort in Finnish Lapland was considered so successful that the group agreed on holding another one next year in Lapland.

      Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) said that similar gatherings are to be held in other EU countries as well. The feeling was that smaller gatherings could bring significantly more efficiency to EU decision-making.

Speaking to reporters, Catherine Ashton, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that a turning point had been reached in the construction of a new foreign policy in Europe.

      She said that discussions are concentrating more on content than on "that fluffy stuff", she said on Saturday.

      In the field of foreign affairs she sees a need to systematically strengthen the EU's position in adjacent areas, and with the most important concentration of power.

Ashton appeared more relaxed and self-confident in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat and three international news agencies than she has been in recent times.

      She has been the focus of sometimes intense criticism after taking office as the first "foreign minister" of the EU.

      She has been called a weak performer at a time when the EU institutions and member states around her have struggled for power in foreign affairs.

She said that the storminess has not disturbed her at all, adding that some of the expectations for the EU's common foreign policy and the "European External Action Service" that is now under construction have been unrealistic.

      Whether it is over or not, the controversy has certainly has made Ashton the centre of attention. She was clearly at centre stage at the weekend retreat in Saariselkä, where she met with the foreign ministers of six EU member states, as well as Turkey.

Stubb is a former childhood bully (I know someone of his age from the same school) and has a bizarre over-youthful taste in winter clothing (product placement?), but he does keep himself fit, is intelligent and informed on issues, he's a Swedish-speaking Finn, also speaks fluent English, French and German, and on the whole has a fairly decent track record. He's an energetic Europhile.

He has potential as a future Finnish PM.

I totally disagree with his positive view of NATO, but it doesn't so far seem to have done him any harm in contacts with Russia.

You can't be me, I'm taken