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On the occasion of "his first official encounter with President Dmitri Medvedev" at the EU-Russia summit, "the new permanent President of the European Union did not mince his words with regard to the issue of human rights in Russia," reports Le Figaro. Herman Van Rompuy notably spoke of the climate of impunity that reigns in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. It was "a short but scathing declaration," which destabilised the Russian delegates and took Commission President José Manuel Barroso, "who remained silent on the issue", by surprise. Le Soir, however, notes that the President of the European Council appeared to be "overwhelmed by the event," where he read "a prepared speech before silently returning to his seat." At the same time, Catherine Ashton, the head of Europe's diplomatic service was nowhere to be seen. The Brussels daily quotes a Russian diplomat who remarked with an ironic smile that the new European leadership "is still being broken in."
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