Juncker names former rival as Brexit negotiator

As an European Union official, he was commissioner of internal markets and services from 2010 to 2014, clashing frequently with British government and banking officials over the tightening of banking regulations.

Juncker said Barnier was a skilled negotiator with rich experience in major policy areas and an extensive network of contacts in the capitals of European Union member states.

Where the balance of power lies within and across European Union institutions and the member states is a crucial factor, whoever leads the talks on behalf of the Commission. Michel will have access to all Commission resources necessary to perform his tasks.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced the appointment, saying Barnier will “help us develop a new partnership with the U.K”. However, the British prime minister said she doesn’t plan to do so before the start of 2017.

Adding an extra complexity, Barnier, a former agriculture minister in the French government, is also reluctant to speak English in public.

The other thorny issue for the United Kingdom will be financial services.

The European Commission said Barnier’s task in the coming months would be to “prepare the ground internally” as it emphasised there would be no negotiations before the United Kingdom triggered Article 50.

Barnier presided over a frenzy of European financial rulemaking, not all welcomed by Britain.

The Frenchman, who co-organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in his home region of Albertville and was a close ally of former Gaullist President Jacques Chirac, prided himself on working mostly in consensus with the City, London’s financial centre.

In the “informal” period of discussion that has already begun with Theresa May’s visits to Berlin and Paris, the hope is that much groundwork will be established that Mr Barnier will not be able to undo.

Michel Barnier said he was “honoured” to be appointed the EU’s chief negotiator. “He is not as inflexible as people said and we worked well together”, Bowles told Reuters in an email.