Brexit: EU deplores London's "unfriendly" refusal to recognize its ambassador

Joao Vale de Almeida, EU Ambassador to London, here September 9, 2020. AFP - TOLGA AKMEN

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2 min

It is one of the first hitches between the EU and the UK since the entry into force of Brexit.

The European Union has decided to postpone contacts with the new UK ambassador in Brussels.

She intends to protest against the decision of the British government which refuses to grant the status of ambassador to its emissary in London.

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The new British ambassador to the European Union Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby will have to wait before meeting, as he had planned, with the chief of staff of the President of the European Council Charles Michel.

The meeting was "postponed", the time to find a solution to the dispute, the proportions of which are beginning to go beyond the simple history of protocol.

At the origin of the dispute: the refusal of the British authorities to recognize the status of ambassador to Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU representative in London.

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab explained that he saw the European Union's envoy to the United Kingdom as the representative of an "international organization", and not as the ambassador of a state.

A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister recently clarified that the European delegation in London would continue to enjoy the privileges and immunity of diplomats.

Insufficient according to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel, who considers the decision "unfriendly" and specifies that the 143 representations of the EU around the world all enjoy diplomatic status.

Until then only Donald Trump had tried to withdraw his ambassadorial status from the EU representative in Washington, before changing his mind.

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  • Brexit

  • United Kingdom

  • European Union