European Union facing increased Euroscepticism says Habib
Meanwhile the founder of a campaign to take France out of the bloc, has congratulated Boris Johnson for taking “revenge” on Brussels. The UK and the EU are at odds over the British Government’s refusal to grant EU representatives’ full diplomatic status in London after Brexit.
EU Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida and his team have not been granted the same status as it gives to envoys of countries, on the basis that the EU is not a nation-state.
The decision was welcomed by France James, an MEP for the right-wing National Rally party.
She tweeted: “The European Union has never been a nation and it is especially not a federalist entity, why then would you want to impose an ‘ambassador’ in London?
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The megalomania of these pro-Europe technocrats is seriously starting to become unbearable
France Jamet
“The megalomania of these pro-Europe technocrats is seriously starting to become unbearable.”
Meanwhile of Generation Frexit founder Charles-Henri Gallois, referring to the agreement which established the constitutional basis for the EU, posted: “@BorisJohnson avenges France for the infamous Lisbon Treaty!
“The United Kingdom refuses to grant the same diplomatic status as that of a State to the EU Ambassador since it does not consider the EU to be a Nation State!
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“Thanks to him! Frexit #LetsTakeBackControl.”
Speaking this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “The EU, its delegation and staff will receive the privileges and immunities necessary to enable them to carry out their work in the UK effectively.
“It’s a matter of fact that the EU is a collective of nations, but it’s not a state in its own right.”
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The European Commission, which is the EU27’s executive body, has pointed out the EU’s 143 delegations around the world had all been granted a status equivalent to that of diplomatic missions of states.
Peter Stano, the commission’s spokesman for foreign affairs, said: “Granting reciprocal treatment based on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is standard practice between equal partners and we are confident that we can clear this issue with our friends in London in a satisfactory manner.”
When Britain was still an EU member, it had been supportive of the diplomatic status of EU delegations, Mr Stano said.
He added: “Nothing has changed since the UK’s exit from the European Union to justify any change in stance on the UK’s part.”
Defeated US President Donald Trump, who made way for Joe Biden on Wednesday, lowered the status of the EU delegation to Washington in January 2019.
However, the decision was later reversed and full diplomatic status restored.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph yesterday, former Brexit Party MEP Patrick O’Flynn said: “For a pro-Brexit former MEP like me, the situation is replete with irony.”
The episode raised uncomfortable questions about the bloc “openly identifying and behaving as a country”, he explained.
Mr O’Flynn added: “Can they really be considered full independent nations too? Can sovereignty over the same matters be said to reside in EU institutions and national ones simultaneously?”
(Additional reporting by Maria Ortega)
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