BRUSSELS — For all the complications and wounded feelings Brexit has introduced in the relationship between the European Union and its erstwhile member, Britain, this week saw the addition of a diplomatic spat reminiscent of a similar argument initiated by former President Donald J. Trump.
So far, at least, Britain is refusing to grant the European Union ambassador the same diplomatic status as other ambassadors.
The British argument is that the European Union is an international federation, not a nation state, and should receive the same treatment as other international organizations, further down the diplomatic ranking. There is also the suspicion that the British government is trying to embarrass Brussels and contrast its own status as a nation state with the confederation it chose to leave.
The dispute was first reported by the BBC, and the issue is still being negotiated, representatives for both sides said on Thursday.
“Engagement continues with the E.U. on the long-term arrangements for the E.U. delegation to the U.K.,’’ the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
Later on Thursday, a Foreign Office spokesman clarified the British position and said that “regardless of the agreement reached” in the end, “the E.U., its delegation and the staff will receive the privileges and immunities necessary to enable them to carry out their work in the U.K. effectively.”
Peter Stano, spokesman for the European External Action Service, said that the European Union is “accorded privileges and immunities equivalent to those of diplomatic missions under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations” and has such status in 143 other countries and multilateral organizations in the world, “and the U.K. is well aware of this fact.”
Both sides noted that levels of representation were not covered in the Brexit negotiations.
Britain’s exit from the bloc is still raw, with considerable teething problems and customs issues delaying two-way trade, and its position would seem to emphasize what Brexiters call its “liberation” from the European Union and the obligations of shared sovereignty.
One of the results of a downgrade, if it is confirmed, would be that the E.U. ambassador would not be allowed to present credentials to the queen.
Ian Bond, the director of foreign policy for the Center for European Reform in London, said Britain’s “attempt to downgrade the status of the E.U. delegation to the U.K. looks petty and guaranteed to cause ill-will, when the U.K. needs friends in Brussels.’’
It was “worth noting Trump tried the same trick, but had to back down,’’ he said, referring to a similar effort to downgrade the status of the E.U. ambassador to Washington two years ago.
“Is that a good precedent?” Mr. Bond said.
The demotion of the ambassador, David O’Sullivan, became evident at the December 2018 funeral of President George H.W. Bush, when Mr. O’Sullivan’s name was not called in the expected order. The names of diplomats who had gathered in Washington to pay their respects to the former president were read aloud, as is custom, from the longest-serving ambassador to the newest, but Mr. O’Sullivan was called…
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