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Frenchman leading Brexit negotiations starts new job

Frenchman Michel Barnier officially starts work as the European Commission's Brexit negotiator on Saturday in an appointment that British media called a "declaration of war".

Frenchman leading Brexit negotiations starts new job
Photo: AFP
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 on Friday, 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”.
 
'Most dangerous man in Europe'
 
British Prime Minister Theresa May has kept the rest of the EU guessing as her government tries to work out what it wants in terms of access to the single market and migration, saying she will not trigger the split until 2017 at the earliest.
   
British newspapers reacted with alarm after Barnier's appointment, given his 2010-14 stint as EU financial services commissioner, which put him at odds with free-wheeling London bankers after the financial crisis.
   
But both Brussels and London are playing down talk of bad blood.
   
“At that time I was called the most dangerous man in Europe, and (yet) finally we succeeded to build a clever global financial regulation agenda, with the UK on board,” Barnier told a conference in Brussels on September 7.
   
“So it's possible, and my line will be… to reach a win-win agreement” for both sides on Brexit.
   
British officials said they were “relaxed” about his appointment and that contrary to local media reports he was regarded in London as more of a friend to Britain than a foe.
   
Barnier is also well acquainted with Britain's new Brexit minister, the eurosceptic David Davis, as both were Europe ministers for their respective countries in the 1990s.
 
Barnier may have informal talks with Britain's ambassador to the EU before any formal meeting with May, European sources said, adding that “exploratory” contacts were a good idea to set the scene for official negotiations.
 
Turf war 
 
Barnier — who has spent the last two years working on security issues for Juncker as Europe faces a wave of jihadist attacks — will head a “Brexit task force” featuring what Juncker called “the commission's best and brightest”.
  
His new deputy, Sabine Weyand, is a senior Commission trade official from Germany and is expected to take charge of the nuts and bolts of an eventual deal while Barnier deals with the politics.
   
But Barnier already finds himself in an EU turf war involving the same issues of national sovereignty that played such a big role in the campaign for Britain's EU referendum in June.
   
Member states want the talks to be run by the European Council, which groups the 28 EU leaders under former Polish premier Donald Tusk, and not by the European Commission.
   
But Juncker's Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is pushing to be the main player, and it has the European Parliament's support for that, European sources say.
   
Parliament meanwhile asserts that it must have the final say on any Brexit deal, as it is the only one of the main three EU institutions that is directly elected by the public.

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TRAVEL NEWS

EES: Eurostar could limit services over new biometric passport checks

Eurostar could be forced to cut the number of trains when the EU's new biometric border checks (EES) are rolled out in October, the owner of London's St Pancras International Station has warned.

EES: Eurostar could limit services over new biometric passport checks

HS1, the owner of the station and operator of the high-speed line between London and the Channel tunnel, is the latest body to raise concerns over the impact on travel of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) checks that are set to come into force in October 2024.

The new system which requires citizens from outside the EU or Schengen area to register before entering the zone would lead to long delays and potential capping of services and passenger numbers, HS1 warned.

The company said it needed nearly 50 new EES kiosks to process passengers but the French government had only proposed 24.

In evidence to the European scrutiny select committee, HS1 wrote: “We are told that the proposed kiosks are ‘optional’ as the process can be delivered at the border, but without about 49 additional kiosks located before the current international zone [at St Pancras] there would be unacceptable passenger delays of many hours and potential capping of services.”

With just 24 kiosks, Eurostar would be unable to process all passengers, particularly at the morning peak, and this could “lead to services having to be capped in terms of passenger numbers”, HS1 warned, adding that simple space restrictions at St Pancras station would make the EES difficult to implement.

The EES will register non-EU travellers who do not require a visa (those with residency permits in EU countries do not need to register but will be affected by delays) each time they cross a border in or out of the Schengen area. It will replace the old system of manual passport-stamping.

It will mean facial scans and fingerprints will have to be taken in front of border guards at the first entry into the Schengen area.

Travel bosses have repeatedly raised the alarm about the possible delays this would cause, especially at the UK-France border, which is used by 11 million passengers each year who head to France and other countries across Europe.

Last week The Local reported warnings by officials that the new checks could lead to 14-hour queues for travellers heading to France.

Sir William Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, said: “Queues of more than 14 hours; vehicles backed up along major roads; businesses starved of footfall: this evidence paints an alarming picture of the possible risks surrounding the Entry-Exit System’s implementation.

“Clearly, this policy could have a very serious impact, not only for tourists and travel operators but also for local businesses. I implore decision makers on both sides of the Channel to take note of this evidence.”

READ ALSO: What affect will the EES border system have on travel to France?

The Port of Dover has already been struggling with the increased checks required since Brexit and there are fears the situation could be even worse once the EES starts to operate.

Given the possible impacts, the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee last year launched an inquiry calling for views by affected entities with deadline for replies on January 12th 2024.

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