Читать книгу My Secret Brexit Diary - Michel Barnier - Страница 23

Stéphanie, Georg and I prepare for my scheduled meeting later this afternoon with Jean-Claude Juncker’s Head of Cabinet, Martin Selmayr. It’s clear what is required here: we must be as proactive as possible, otherwise the structure and personnel of my team will end up being imposed ‘from above’.

First priority: to appoint my deputy. We draw up a shortlist, at the top of which is a senior European civil servant of German nationality, well known and well respected, a former adviser to Pascal Lamy, and with whom I worked a great deal during my first term as a Commissioner from 1999 to 2004: Sabine Weyand. Sabine has recently been appointed Deputy Director-General for Trade.

At 5.30pm I head up to ‘the thirteenth’, the presidential floor of the Berlaymont building, to meet with Martin Selmayr. With me I have a few initial slides outlining the major issues of the negotiations, the mandate of the task force and its structure. The meeting is brisk and straightforward. I make a point of mentioning Sabine’s name in connection with the post of deputy. Mr Selmayr’s response is unhesitating: ‘Good thinking. But she won’t be coming. She’s too useful where she is.’

In spite of this refusal, I call Sabine in the evening and she tells me that, naturally, she is attracted by the unusual prospect of the Brexit assignment. I inform her of Martin Selmayr’s reservations and ask her to make good use of her network. I will have Mr Selmayr on the line several times over the next few days, and finally, at the beginning of September, he will agree to let me recruit this brilliant woman, as adept politically as she is technically.

Thus a trio is swiftly formed at the head of my team. I will have alongside me these two strong women, not at all alike, with different but complementary personalities and convictions, both of whom command great respect. Sabine will be my deputy and Stéphanie will be our Director of Strategy, in charge of legal and budgetary affairs and relations with other institutions and with the European Parliament. The immediate signal sent both within and outside the Commission will be that a professional and highly competent team is in place here.