The Diplomat
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, plans to appoint his chief of staff in Brussels, the Spaniard Pedro Antonio Serrano de Haro, as the EU’s new ambassador to the United Kingdom to replace Portuguese Joa Vale de Almeida, according to diplomatic sources quoted by The Objective.
Almeida was chosen to head the EU Delegation in London on 20 January 2020, a few days before the start of an 11-month transitional period for the definitive Brexit. However, the UK initially refused to recognise her diplomatic status. Until May 2021, it resisted granting him that rank and putting him on an equal footing with the rest of the ambassadors accredited in London.
Finally, an agreement between Borrell and the then British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, allowed Almeida’s visa to be accepted and the staff of the European delegation in the UK to enjoy the privileges and immunities necessary to carry out their duties like any other international organisation.
Borrell is now sending his ‘right-hand man’ in Brussels to London, in a clear sign that he wants a person he trusts the most in the ambassadorial post. Almeida, who is 65 years old, has already informed his team of his imminent retirement, and the European Commission has opened the mandatory competition for candidates to succeed him, with Serrano de Haro as his successor.
In principle, this movement of pieces implies the departure of a Spaniard from the high representative’s closest circle. Borrell was criticised in some European capitals at the beginning of his term of office for choosing Enrique Mora, another diplomat, as his main diplomatic adviser after the appointment of Serrano de Haro, until then deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for security and defence affairs. There are also a significant number of EU ambassadors in third countries with Spanish nationality – China and Brazil are two examples.
According to The Objective, the post of chief of staff is a position for which Borrell will have his hands free, so the aforementioned diplomatic sources do not rule out his choosing Camilo Villarino, who has been working in the EEAS for some months now after the Zaragoza High Court in May shelved his indictment in the ‘Ghali case’.
