Catherine Ashton has worked in situations where there is no obvious agreement, no shared starting point and often no trust. As the EU’s first High Representative, she led negotiations at the highest level, including the Iran nuclear talks, bringing together parties with fundamentally opposing positions.

Her perspective is grounded in how progress is actually made in those conditions. Not through force or persuasion alone, but through structure, patience and an understanding of where movement is possible. She offers a clear view of how negotiations evolve over time, how positions shift and what it takes to hold a process together when it could easily break down.