We all know the famous Henry Kissinger quote, saying that you don’t know who to call in Europe. More than 30 years later, we’re not doing much better. See if you can spot the difference between the EU and US approach when setting up the new EU-US energy council:

The body will most likely have its constitutive meeting on 4 November, one day after being formally announced by President Barack Obama and Jose Manuel Barroso during the EU-US summit due to take place in Washington.

From the EU commission side, the energy council is set to include the commissioner for energy, Andris Piebalgs, the commissioner for external relations, Benita Fererro-Waldner, and the commissioner for science and research, Janez Potocnik. The EU’s top diplomat, Javier Solana, as well as Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt and energy minister Maud Olofsson on behalf of the EU presidency will round up the European delegation.

The US side will be represented by secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the secretary for energy, who also has science and research in his portfolio, Steven Chu.

Source EU Observer – New EU-US energy council to be set up early November

While I understand the underlying historic an political reasons for this approach, it still doesn’t bode well in terms of expected efficiency.