The Foreign Office has argued that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which sets out these rights and privileges, only applies to serving diplomats from nation states - not those representing international organisations.
In addition, many staff serving in EU missions are seconded directly from national ministries of foreign affairs, partly to reflect the make-up of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s de facto foreign ministry. When the EEAS was created in 2009, EU countries decided that its staff should come from the EU Commission, the Council (the grouping of the 27 governments) and national ministries of foreign affairs respectively. The EU’s own mission to the UK has staff whose previous posting was in a national embassy in London.
Add new comment