Can you give one example of a way that Brexit has resulted in a change for you or your organisation?
Three months a year--in April, June and October--the EU Council of Ministers meets in Luxembourg. While the majority of support to visiting British ministers was provided by colleagues from the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, ministers would often stay at my residence and hold dinners and meetings there. This of course no longer happens, and there are a handful of meetings for EU ambassadors or embassies here that we no longer attend. But the majority of the work of our embassy was not directly linked to our membership of the EU and continues as before. In my dealings with the Luxembourg government the only difference is that now I represent a like-minded ally (on most issues at least) rather than a fellow EU member state.
Over the last two years, which moments in the negotiation process stand out for you?
For me the key moments in the last two years were the UK elections on 12 December 2019 and the October European Council last year. The December 2019 election saw the re-election of the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson with a clear majority and a mandate to deliver Brexit. That brought an end to the turbulence of the previous couple of years and led to the swift ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement and our exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020.
We then set out clearly our approach to the negotiations on our future relationship with the EU, based on election manifesto commitments, and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement delivered on these. A misstep by the EU at the October European Council led to a breakdown in the talks but this in turn led, belatedly, to an intensification of the negotiations and eventual agreement on a deal on Christmas Eve.
If we were having this conversation in five years’ time, what condition do you believe the EU will be in?
Hopefully a healthy, secure and prosperous condition. A healthy, prosperous and secure EU is in the UK’s own national interest. I’d like to think that sentiment is reciprocated.