Читать книгу My Secret Brexit Diary - Michel Barnier - Страница 22

From the terrace of a Sicilian villa where I am spending a few days’ holiday with my wife Isabelle and a few friends, I begin to put together my team.

I need one or two competent deputies who command respect in all departments of the Commission. My former Head of Cabinet Olivier Guersent recommends a young French woman, Stéphanie Riso, an economist who has worked in several Commissioners’ cabinets on monetary and budgetary issues. I call her and she gives me an agreement in principle. She is a lively and direct woman who doesn’t mince her words, and who will be particularly useful in helping me negotiate the explosive issue of the financial settlement with the British.

I have no intention of putting together an entirely French team, of course. We will meet on 31 August in Brussels to get organized. Georg Riekeles, whom I called during the summer, will also join us. Georg is as loyal as they come, and I had immediately asked him to accompany me in this new project.