2.2 The author filed an appeal in the Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) alleging violations of procedural guarantees and substantive rights.

But the trend toward normalcy among European leaders coincides with a remarkable absence of vision and strategy. If any of these normal leaders have a long term strategy for Europe (can anyone imagine such a thing from EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy or the Union s foreign policy supremo, Catherine Ashton?), they are remarkably unable to convey it.

The choice for No. 3 job the foreign policy supremo who will have extra resources and powers to build on the position created by Javier Solana looks more straightforward. Solana, the soft spoken Spaniard who was previously NATO s secretary general, looks like the odds on favorite to take the new job for a few months before handing it over to Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister and ex premier who gained international stature in the Balkans in the 1990 s.