UK plans to downgrade EU ambassador's status
Britain plans to downgrade the status of the European Union’s first ambassador to the UK after Brexit because it believes the EU should be treated as an international organisation rather than a country.
The Government has rejected EU demands for the trappings of statehood for Joao Vale de Almeida, which drew strong criticism from Brussels and some Conservative MPs who branded the decision “petty”. It said that he would still be afforded similar privileges, such as diplomatic immunity and passports.
A senior Government source said, “The EU views itself as a state. The UK believes it is an international organisation. Someone in the EU’s mission has gotten the huff and briefed a load of fake news about how he won’t have the same privileges and immunities as others.
“He will, his team will and so will the EU’s office in the UK, the source added.
Senior figures in the UK Government believe the row is about bruised egos because representatives of international organisations do not get to present their credentials to the Queen as national ambassadors do.
The UK and EU are in negotiations over the framework of the new diplomatic relationship between London and the bloc after the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 last year.
Some observers believe the stance is a ploy to exert leverage in UK-EU relations but that was dismissed by British sources. The stand-off over status has been bubbling away since May but has now erupted to the surface.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, has written to the UK Government accusing it of refusing to grant the customary privileges and immunities for the delegation and its staff, the BBC reported.
EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the row at a Brussels meeting on Monday.
The European Commission said the EU's 143 delegations and staff in other parts of the world were given a status equivalent to countries' embassies under the Vienna Convention, which governs the rules of international diplomacy. Known as the 'treaty on treaties', it establishes comprehensive rules, procedures, and guidelines for how treaties are defined, drafted, amended, interpreted, and generally operate
Former US president Donald Trump reversed a similar downgrade to the EU’s ambassador to the US in 2019 after criticism.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said the British Government would be “wise” to reconsider and find a “clever and objective” solution to the row.
“I know the spin, sometimes more than the spin, from the UK authorities speaking about the EU as like an international organisation,” he said.
“But we are not a international organisation, we are the Union and the UK took part in the Union for more than 47 years,” he added.
A spokesman for the EU’s foreign affairs service said the UK was well aware of the EU’s status because it signed the Lisbon Treaty establishing the bloc’s diplomatic network.
"Nothing has changed since the UK's exit from the European Union to justify any change in stance on the UK's part," he said.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office continues to engage with the EU on the long-term arrangements for the EU delegation in the UK. I am not going to pre-empt the outcome of those negotiations.
“The EU, it’s delegation and the staff will receive the privileges and immunities necessary to enable them to carry out their work in the UK effectively."
Senior Conservative Tobias Ellwood described the row as a "silly spat" and insisted the UK should be "better than this".
Mr Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said: "This is simply petty.”
Sir David Lidington, who was effectively deputy prime minister under Theresa May, said non-recognition could set a "bad precedent" for regimes that hate EU ambassadors speaking up in support of human rights.
Mr Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby CMG was on Thursday announced as the UK’s ambassador to the EU, replacing Sir Tim Barrow, who is now the political director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
