Policy before institution, please

In regards to Egypt, institutional Europe was lacking a clear line until [French President] Nicolas Sarkozy, [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel and David Cameron decided to put pressure on [Egyptian leader] Hosni Mubarak to implement the ‘political, economic and social reforms’ he had pledged. Until then, Catherine Ashton, the voice of [the EU’s] diplomacy, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the [European] Council, had been grinding topical phrases about the rejection of violence and the necessity of dialogue.

- An article in today's Le Figaro criticises the EU’s response to the recent crises in the Arab world and summarises the problems inherent in the EU's confused foreign policy set-up, i.e. institutions without real policies.