The British government responded on Wednesday to the appointment of Michel Barnier as the EU’s Brexit negotiator by saying it looked forward to working with representatives of various European institutions to ensure an orderly exit from the bloc.
Advertisement
European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier speaks during a news conference on the restructuring of the bank at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels January 29, 2014.
The appointment was announced by commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who said he wanted “an experienced politician for this hard job”.
Michel Barnier, as Chief Negotiator, will be ranked at the director-general level and will take up his duties as of 1 October 2016.
Barnier was appointed as Commissioner with responsibility for financial services at a time when the European Union had a heavy legislative agenda in this area following the financial crisis.
His official title will be “chief negotiator in charge of leading the Commission Taskforce for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom” under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
New British Prime Minister Theresa May has said London will not be rushed into launching talks and mostly likely will begin the negotiations early next year.
Appointing Barnier is also Juncker’s opening move in a struggle for power on the Brussels side of the negotiations.
The other thorny issue for the United Kingdom will be financial services.
Advertisement
The surprise appointment was announced today by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker at the final meeting of EU commissioners before the summer break. “He is not as inflexible as people said and we worked well together”, Bowles told Reuters in an email. Hill, who set about building a European capital markets union while trying to give the financial sector a breather from fresh regulation, resigned after Britain voted to leave the EU in a June 23 referendum.
