European Union’s ‘Monsieur Brexit’ starts tough job

AFP - Frenchman Michel Barnier officially starts work as the European Commission’s Brexit negotiator today in an appointment that British media called a “declaration of war”.

Loathed in parts of London for taking on the banking sector when he was a commissioner, Barnier insisted after his appointment by Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in July that he will be fair to all sides in what promise to be difficult talks. The 65-year-old former French minister will begin his job with a grand tour throughout the autumn of the 27 European Union capitals -- minus London -- to canvass their views on the historic divorce. “During this first stage he will proceed with a round of consultations with member states,” Juncker’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas said yesterday, although Barnier will not speak to the press until November.

Barnier has already visited Berlin for “constructive” talks with foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday, and met with Juncker, European Parliament chief Martin Schulz and the parliament’s own Brexit pointman Guy Verhofstadt on Tuesday.

But Britain may remain off his itinerary until it formally triggers the two-year separation process from the EU, with the rest of the union insisting there can be “no negotiation without notification”.