The head of European diplomacy and his British envoy reached an agreement on Wednesday on the status of the EU delegation to the United Kingdom, announcing an end to a controversy that had dragged on since January.
“We are pleased to have reached a compromise on the basis of goodwill and pragmatism, based on the founding agreement for the EU Representatives to the United Kingdom,” reads a joint statement by EU High Representative on Foreign Policy Joseph Borel and the British. Foreign Minister Dominique Robb has been released in Brussels.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between the two officials on the sidelines of the G7 summit in London, where the current ambassador to Portugal, Joano Vale de Almeida, said, “States have the same status as the leaders of the mission, including providing and presenting evidence to the head of state.”
“We hope that the staff of the EU Mission will have the necessary privileges and privileges to function effectively, while at the same time allowing efficient administration of justice and moving forward together to meet global challenges,” said a joint statement by Borel and Rob.
The report added that the two officials “discussed future EU-UK cooperation on foreign and security policy and ways to intensify joint work in the field of climate change and climate diplomacy, including talks ahead of the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow.”
The Foreign Minister and the High Representative also exchanged views on the talks to resolve the Cyprus issue. They stressed the need to create momentum for the upcoming meeting between the parties [Chipre e Turquia] And in this process the UN. It underscored their full support for the initiative, ”he concluded.
In January, British officials decided not to grant full EU diplomatic status to the first EU delegation to the United Kingdom – since that month a third country, Brexit, and they understood that they had the same privileges and immunity granted to diplomats by the Vienna Convention because they understood that they were European ambassadors and officials. Should not be enjoyed, because the EU is an international organization and not a state.
This decision, which was fiercely contested by Europeans, has now been reversed, and Jono Vale de Almeida, who took office in early February 2020, after many years as European ambassador to the United States, can finally give evidence to the Queen, as foreign ambassadors do when accepting office in the UK.
Last week, during an event promoted by the cabinet in Portugal in the European Parliament, Vale de Almeida had already expressed confidence that the controversy over his diplomatic status would be resolved “soon”.
“A good Portuguese – we are calm and flexible – I hope a solution will be found soon in line with international practice and we will overcome this difference,” he said.
The EU has 143 delegates from around the world, hosted by their officials, concessions and concessions made to other diplomatic missions, so it did not accept the London decision, and in retaliation delayed the accreditation process with the new British Ambassador to the EU, Lindsay Crostale-Appl. Controls, former No. 2 on the negotiating team for the post-Brexit deal, will now see his situation normalized.
The European Parliament last week approved a trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom, establishing a new framework of relations between the two parties in the post-Brexit period, which began to be used systematically in 1. In May.
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