Senior Portuguese diplomat João Vale de Almeida has been chosen to head the EU ‘delegation’ in UK post-Brexit, reports Lusa.
His appointment will become official on February 1 – the day after Britain is due to ‘leave’ the community and begin the so-called ‘transition process’.
Vale de Almeida, 62, already has 30 years experience in what the media in Portugal call ‘European roles’. He has been a spokesperson for the director general of the European Commission; he was head of department and chief advisor to Durão Barroso during the latter’s first mandate as president of the commission; he represented the EU as ambassador to the United States between 2010-2014, and more recently he held the position of EU ambassador to the United Nations.
Vale de Almeida’s spoken English will be perfect after more than 10 years in Washington and New York, say reports that explain he has “always been one of the favourites to represent the EU in London”.
In an article published last summer in which he discussed the US presidency and the difficulties it posed for diplomacy, Vale de Almeida was described as saying that Brexit “weakens the EU on the world stage”.
Credit to Natasha Donn of the Portugal Resident
