Britain’s Brexit nemesis made EU trade boss and will negotiate future deal
BRITAIN’S Brexit nemesis has been made the EU’s top trade official – meaning she’ll be in charge of negotiating a future deal with us. Michel Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand is widely credited as the brains behind the bloc’s fearsome negotiating team. And the German eurocrat was on Wednesday appointed Director-General of the EU’s trade division […]
BRITAIN’S Brexit nemesis has been made the EU’s top trade official – meaning she’ll be in charge of negotiating a future deal with us.
Michel Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand is widely credited as the brains behind the bloc’s fearsome negotiating team.
And the German eurocrat was on Wednesday appointed Director-General of the EU’s trade division – one of the most prized and powerful jobs in the Commission.
Her promotion means that she will be in charge of the nuts and bolts of negotiating Brussels’ future trade deals, including with the UK.
Ms Weyand said she was “proud and honoured” to be appointed to the role and that she was looking forward to the “many challenges ahead”.
EU sources said that Mr Barnier’s negotiating team, known as Task Force 50, is not being disbanded and will remain available to talk to the future PM.
They said Ms Weyand could still be involved in discussions if the UK returns to Brussels to ask for changes to the non-binding trade blue print.
But they stressed all negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement, including the backstop, are over which is why she has been allowed to move on.
Ms Weyand, 54, has been at the core of the EU’s negotiating effort on Brexit and worked very closely with the PM’s top Europe adviser Olly Robbins.
She sparked controversy last November when she briefed Member States that the backstop would provide “leverage” to force the UK into a customs union.
TOP TRADE JOB FOR HAGGLER
According to a diplomatic note she told EU ambassadors the border fix would put the bloc “in the best negotiation position for the future relationship”.
Paying tribute to her, Mr Barnier said: “Our team continues work on the UK’s orderly withdrawal.”
Axel Dittmann, Germany’s Brexit point man, praised her “negotiation skills, sharp mind and humour throughout the Brexit talks”.
He added: “We remain committed to the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration, to which your contribution was essential.”
Ms Weyand’s promotion came as a huge row erupted between France and Germany over who should get the EU’s top job.
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Angela Merkel is backing German MEP Manfred Weber, who is her centre-right grouping’s official pick to be the next Commission chief.
But Emmanuel Macron wants to rip up the system whereby the party which wins the EU election gets to parachute its own lead candidate into the role.
He has linked Brussels’ competition boss Margrethe Vestager, Dutch commission deputy chief Frans Timmermans and Mr Barnier to the job.
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