Mrs Ashton herself has had to take on three posts so far: European Commissioner for External Action (a post formerly held by Benita Ferrero-Waldner), chairing the EU Foreign Ministers' meetings (which used to be done by the rotating EU presidency) and High Representative (a job previously held by Javier Solana).
Eštones kundzei līdz šim ir bijis jāuzņemas trīs amatu pienākumi — ārējās darbības komisāra, ārlietu ministru padomes priekšsēdētāja un augstā pārstāvja (Solanas loma).