Brussels, 11/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the month, the European Commission will announce the portfolio it plans to hand over to the forthcoming British Commissioner, Sir Julian King, a spokesperson for the institution, Margaritis Schinas, said on Monday 11 July, thereby suggesting that President Juncker had agreed to the candidate put forward by David Cameron to replace the former Commissioner for Financial Services, Jonathan Hill.
The spokesperson pointed out that until the United Kingdom had notified its departure from the EU and activated Article 50, the country remained a full member and was therefore entitled to have a Commissioner. “The logical consequence is that it is entitled to a member of the College”, Schinas said. On Monday morning, Juncker established the skills of the current British ambassador to France. As regards the procedure for the approval of the candidate, the Commission is “in the hands of the EP”, which must hold a hearing of and accept the candidate. However, the Commission is planning to push the process through over summer 2016, the spokesperson added.
Theresa May to be appointed Prime Minister on Wednesday
Theresa May, who will become the next British Prime Minister on Wednesday, said in London that the vote of the British people for 'Brexit' would be respected. “Brexit means Brexit” and “we're going to make a success of it”, she said, to reassure the majority of British Conservatives who voted in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the EU. “I couldn't be clearer (…) there will be no attempts to remain inside the EU”, said May, who had campaigned for the status quo in the British referendum, at the launch of her campaign to take over from Cameron. She added: “there will be no attempts to rejoin [the EU] by the back door”, AFP reported. The speed with which Cameron's successor was found may accelerate the triggering of Article 50 of the European Treaty to start the negotiation process for the United Kingdom's withdrawal. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Camille-Cerise Gessant)