Speculation is continuing to abound in Brussels regarding the possible retirement of Javier Solana, the High Representative for the European Common, Foreign and Security Policy. 

Quote: "Solana's likely departure has been the subject of speculation for the past two weeks in Brussels. One version, the report said, is that Solana learned during the Lebanon conflict that he couldn't effectively act on the EU's behalf without a clear mandate from member states. Solana also admitted recently the effort to get Iran stop its uranium enrichment had stalled although he had worked hard on it. Additionally, the deadlock on the passage of the EU constitution may mean he will not get the job as official EU foreign minister, said the report. A spokeswoman for Solana denied any rumors about his health, saying, "Mr. Solana's mandate expires in 2009 and his post is not available," she said. She also said her boss jogs every day before work.

Herb Peters at fulfilledprophecy.com reported on this a while back, and I am inclined to go along with his opinion that rumours are rumours. The fact that Solana is at loggerheads with the EU Foreign Ministers (especially the E3 - Britain, France and Germany), adds weight to the prophecy in Daniel of the Little Horn plucking up three of his fellow nations by the roots. It seems that this will be a battle that Solana, or whoever may take his place, will eventually win. And the fact that the EU Commission is working hard on adopting parts of the EU Constitution behind our backs, could just well provide Javier Solana with a new post of EU Foreign Minister before his term expires. 

Quote: "[From the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office] - We want Member States to remain in the driving seat on foreign policy and to retain control over CFSP. So we welcome the Convention text which makes it clear that the CFSP is conducted by the Member States, the European Council and the Council of Ministers. - We also support the new linkage between the CFSP, the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), EU trade policy and EU development policy, which would all be grouped under one Title of the new Treaty. This should improve the overall coherence of EU external action and make CFSP more operational and effective. - We support the aim of improving coherence between the Commission's and the Council's actions in external affairs. This will be helped in particular by the proposed creation of the post of 'European Foreign Minister', which would merge the current functions of the External Relations Commissioner (Chris Patten) and the CFSP High Representative, and the proposed establishment of an EU External Action Service (made up of Commission and Council Secretariat officials, and seconded diplomats from Member States). However, we are concerned about the lack of detail about the precise role of the proposed 'European Foreign Minister', including his/her exact status in the Commission, and believe that more work is needed in this area.

It's clear the UK and the EU are on a collision course. The UK, Germany and France want to retain control over the Common, Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which Solana blames for hindering him in achieving a peace deal in the Middle East. The link between the posts of the CFSP, the European Security and Defence Policy (Solana is already the head of the European Defence Agency), the EU Trade policy and the EU Development policy, would give Solana's post of future EU Foreign Minister a lot more power and influence than he currently enjoys. And finally the merger of the posts of Benito Ferrero-Waldner and Javier Solana will give Europe the "one voice" Solana craves.

Revelation 13:5 
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Source United Press International, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Global Policy