With Brexit another day, another delay and a new legal headache for a new Commission in the making.
ADVERTISEMENTWorking hard for Europe: the last British EU Commissioner Julian King, in charge of security. The end of his mandate is now days away - or weeks. Or months.
It all depends on two things: 1) Brexit and 2) the start of the new Commission. In other words: nobody knows at this point.
King's latest tweet:
King took it with humour when he posted a picture of what could "probably" be his last outing with a fellow commissioner.
The extension deal that the EU struck with Britain stipulates that the UK must nominate a new commissioner, if the country is still an EU member the moment the new Commission takes over. The rest is speculation.
"As you will have seen, the draft decision to extent article 50 contains three possible dates, one of which is even the 1st of December, because that depends on when the Withdrawal Agreement will be ratified. So everything else, whether a candidate for commissioner will be needed or not for the 1st of December, we can discuss then. So this is where we are and we will cross the next line when we know what the next line is,"
If London asks King to carry on, he will have another confirmation process like the one he went through in 2016 following the Brexit referendum.
This is the most likely scenario, unless the UK government nominates somebody else.
Selling up not selling out
Thierry Breton has agreed sell his shares if he becomes European Commissioner. The French candidate and current CEO of the computer company Atos wants to cut short any risk of a conflict of interest. This type of suspicion had led to the rejection of the candidacy of Sylvie Goulard. The total of Thierry Breton's shares is estimated at 34 million euros.
And elsewhere...
Finding a common position on migration policy. That is the goal of the G6 of EU interior ministers who have been meeting (since Monday) in Munich Germany. Spain, France, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. Berlin wants to limit immigration and in an orderly way which requires a coordinated international response.