Catherine Ashton: 'My Job Is to Keep Traffic Moving'

Europe's Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton spoke with TIME senior editor Simon Robinson and correspondent Leo Cendrowicz. Highlights:

Let's get to what Europe stands for, which for an outsider is quite ill-defined. What is Europe's foreign policy?
When I was E.U. trade commissioner, I represented an economic superpower of 500 million people. And that meant I could do better trade deals. I was able to represent the E.U. more clearly. In foreign policy, there are times when speaking with one voice — and it doesn't have to be mine — allows us to engage better on...