operated as a "quiet diplomat", and found himself frequently pushed to the side in negotiations and sent on missions known to be impossible. Solana has played an important role working toward a resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and continues to be a primary architect of the "Road map for Peace", along with the UN, Russia, and the United States in the Quartet on the Middle East. On 22 July 2004, he met Ariel Sharon in Israel. Sharon had originally refused to meet him, but eventually accepted that the EU was involved in the Road Map. Solana criticised Israel for obstructing the Palestinian presidential election of 9 January 2005, but then met Sharon again on 13 January. In November 2004 he assisted the United Kingdom, France and Germany in negotiating a nuclear material enrichment freeze with Iran. In the same month he was involved in mediating between the two presidential candidates in the post-election developments in Ukraine, and on 21 January 2005 he invited Ukraine's new President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss future EU membership. Catherine Ashton (2009–2014) Although Solana was originally selected to be the first Foreign Minister, the delays in introducing the post meant that after 10 years of service he stood aside for a new candidate. After numerous candidates were put forward, EU leaders agreed on Catherine Ashton from the United Kingdom as the first merged High Representative. Ashton was previously the European Commissioner for Trade and otherwise had no foreign affairs experience. Ashton unexpectedly came to the top of the shortlist when she was nominated unanimously by the centre-left leaders who claimed the post. Ashton was confirmed by the European Parliament before she took up the post. In the same European Council meeting, Pierre de Boissieu was appointed Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, showing that the High Representative and the Secretary-General will no longer be the same person. In October 2010 most major appointments to the EEAS were made, including Pierre Vimont (France) as Secretary General, Helga Schmid (Germany) and Maciej Popowski (Poland) as Deputy Secretaries General and David O'Sullivan (Ireland) as chief operating officer. Slowly other staff and ambassadors were appointed in cycles. Ashton formally launched the EEAS on 1 December 2010 at a low key event where she outlined her key priorities as relations with the US and China, climate change, poverty eradication, crisis management and counter-terrorism. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Ashton