Trump degrades EU diplomatic status in Washington

European officials say the issue came to light only when the European envoy to the capital of the United States, Irish diplomat David O'Sullivan, found that he was not cooling down on certain types of activities and that he was invited to the funeral of former President George H. W. Bush, after ambassadors of individual countries, regardless of his rank, reports the Voice of America.

Diplomacy is carried out by symbolic and double meanings, and now this temporarily removed status reduction has angered EU officials, who fear that this movement is a sign of contempt. According to EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic, they have requested an explanation for this lower status.

Politicians and analysts on both sides of the Atlantic are trying, however, to understand the reasons for this move, arguing whether the administration was targeting some kind of refusal, while having crashed with Brussels on trade and defence issues, or whether the move was the result of a bureaucratic concern.

An EU official today told reporters in Brussels that “was canceled as the EU representative's status cut, following bilateral talks held in December”.

President Donald Trump has been a strong supporter of Britain's departure from the EU, describing himself during the election campaign, such as <x0-> Mr. Brexit” and severely criticising the EU for its trade challenge with America.

He's embraced antitypes. - The EU, like Nigel Farage, one of Brex's top supporters and former leader of the Party for Independence of the United Kingdom. He met with him after the election of president and before meeting with any of the EU leaders, or even with the British prime minister himself.

The president wrote on Twitter that he thinks Mr. Farage should be named Britain's ambassador to the US: “Many people would like to see @Nigel Farage as Britain's ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job,” said President Trump.

As a result of the government's partial closure in Washington, the State Department has not responded to media requirements for comments concerning protocol changes.

Earlier, the United States treated the European Union delegation and EU ambassadors in the same way that another country's diplomatic representation was handled, EU officials said. But the change, thought to have taken place in October or November last year, lowers the Union's diplomatic representation status at a level similar to an international organisation. This is a much lower diplomatic status and may affect the approach EU diplomats will have in the future to administration officials.

We have learned that there have recently been changes in the way the list of diplomatic importance is implemented by the United States Protocol,” said Mrs. Kocijancic in a statement. “We are discussing with relevant services in administration concerning the possible impact this move will have on the EU delegation in Washington. We were unaware of the change. We hope that the diplomatic practice that was introduced several years ago will be respected”.

The status change was first announced by Deutsche Welle. We don't know exactly when they did, because they forgot to inform us, that this is how it came to be,” said an official in comments for Deutsche Welle. The “is clear that it is not just a protocol issue, obviously there is a political motive here,” said the official.

Other EU diplomats in Washington, contacted by the Voice of America, have expressed the same view. A senior European diplomat also voiced conviction that the change may have been motivated by the desire to annul a decision made by the Obama administration, which raised the status of the EU delegation in 2016.

If the decision was not taken as an offer, then the moment when this decision was taken is inexplicable, he said. “Zaly, protocol changes take place in the first months of an administration, not two years later,” said the diplomat. “But even if they did not take this move to show contempt for the delegation, they must have clearly interpreted it. This arrangement harmonizes with an anti attitude - The EU that we have ascertained by the Trump administration, which does not love multinational organisations”.

In a speech he gave in December in Brussels, while lowering the level of representation was being discussed between American and European Union officials, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said Donald Trump's policy “The pre-” was redefining the system established after World War II, recognizing the sovereign importance of multilateral institutions. He criticised the “burcrats” for the belief that the groupings are “objective in themselves” and cast doubt on the EU's commitment to its citizens. These comments by Mr. Pompeo were strongly opposed by the European Commission, the EU executive arm.

Several key European politicians turned disappointed at Tuesday's news. This is a soap opera policy: The United States has lowered the level of the EU mission in Washington, a poorly amended move by Trump. ”- wrote on tweet Carl Bildt of the European Council for Foreign Relations and former prime minister of Sweden.

But this news delighted the Eurosceptics, especially the supporters of the BREXI, who did not delay to write tweets with a prevailing spirit.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom left for Washington on Tuesday for talks with her American counterpart, Robert Lightshier. Trade tensions between Washington and Brussels have risen since President Trump imposed tariffs on European aluminum and steel imports. The American president has also threatened to impose tariffs on European vehicles.