Sir Jon Cunliffe, head of UKREP, addressing the British Brussels Network

About 200 Brits and people of other assorted nationalities gathered in the restaurant of the European Parliament to hear what Sir Jon Cunliffe, the new head of UKREP, had to say about Britain and the EU.

In post since January, succeeding Sir Kim Darroch, he was previously David Cameron’s Europe advisor.  He is a relatively unknown quantity in Brussels and does not come from Darroch’s smooth Foreign Office background, but from a more hard-nosed Treasury one.

He had the inside track on the UK’s negotiating strategy for the December European Council where the Prime Minister wielded his veto over the fiscal compact, and speculation abounded at the time over his role in that (although no definitive account has yet emerged).  As this was his first time addressing a big public meeting of Brits in Brussels, interest was high, and the room was packed.

The event was opened by the host, James Elles, a Tory MEP, with a wide-ranging analysis of Europe’s “relative decline.” The only solution to this, he said, was cooperation, adding that “as individual nations we will be relegated to the ranks of rule takers.”

Norman Lamb MP, Parliamentary under-secretary for employment, consumer and postal affairs followed this by talking about the importance of completing the single market.

Sir Jon Cunliffe started with an oblique reference to the 9^th of December saying, “nowadays when you say you want to get a British perspective on something you often get a groan.”  He went on to say that on the other hand, “there is a strand of thinking associated with the UK around liberalism,” adding that he believed people wonder “what would happen if it wasn’t here and [would] get a bit worried.”

On the eurozone crisis he observed, “governments can shape and guide economic forces but they can’t suppress them – they come out in one way or another, and what we’re seeing is those forces shaping and guiding changes in the EU.  It’s a messy process and it’s a painful process.”

On Brits in the EU’s institutions he said that “we’re going through a bit of a demographic – I’m not sure what the opposite of a bulge is – a contraction, where many of the talented people who joined the institutions at the time we joined the EU are now coming to the end of their careers, and along with many of the older member states there aren’t that many following behind.”

He emphasised that this would be one of his priorities whilst in Brussels, adding “we’ve managed to have breakfasts or dinners or meetings with pretty much all the Brits in the institutions down to head of unit level.”

The reception ended with Sir Jon Cunliffe leading a toast to the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee – a flash of colour and optimism in what was otherwise an evening of quite sobering reflections.

Sir Jon Cunliffe, the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU

The BBN is holding a networking reception on 30 May, hosted by James Elles MEP, in the European Parliament bringing together key British figures in Brussels to discuss Britain’s place in the European Union and how best we approach the on-going economic challenges that Europe faces.

This event will be the third British Brussels Network event.

Remarks by:

Baroness Catherine Ashton, Vice-President, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission

Sir Jon Cunliffe, UK Permanent Representative to the EU

James Elles MEP

Roland Rudd, Chairman, Business for New Europe

Event hashtag | #britsineu

RSVP | To register please click here.  Please note that an RSVP is required for this event.

Marking the launch of EU Careers month, Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

“The EU plays a very important part in the lives of the people of the United Kingdom, and in the fortunes of the UK in the world.

“The EU needs talented individuals to work in its institutions, to make the right decisions, to work efficiently and effectively. It would be a good thing for Britain for people who know this country, who understand this country, to be working in the EU’s institutions.”

The Foreign Office has launched EU Careers Month to encourage more British nationals to apply for a career in the EU Civil Service. The UK is currently under-represented in the EU institutions; we represent 12% of the EU population yet only 4.8% of staff working for the institutions are British.

The UK needs to be equally represented in the institutions so that British culture, attitudes, laws and ways of thinking are considered throughout the organisation.

Working for the EU institutions can be one of the most satisfying and rewarding careers in Europe. This is not a single career. It is a lifetime of different, challenging and rewarding jobs. There are a wide variety of roles available to you as an EU civil servant: one year you could be drafting EU policy; the next you could be working on free trade agreements with emerging economies.

Benefits of a career in the EU can include:

-A lifetime of different jobs

-Excellent training and development opportunities

-A competitive remuneration package

-Final salary pension scheme

As a British citizen, to apply you will need to be a graduate in any field as long as you have an honours degree of at least three years in length.

If your main language is English you will need to speak either French or German as a 2nd language. However, if you are highly fluent in another official EU language, e.g. Spanish, you could choose this as your first language and English as your second.

This year the EU is recruiting a number of generalist policy officials at graduate entry level (AD05) and graduates with 6-7 years work experience (AD07). It is also recruiting a number of specialists in the following areas; Law, Auditing, Communications and International Relations. Candidates will need to have a relevant degree or skill-set to be considered for these roles.

The application window to apply for a career in the EU Civil Service opens on 15 March and will close on 15 April 2012.

For more information, visit the EU Careers website. 

At the end of a low-key European Council meeting last week, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that Britain had formed an “unprecedented alliance” of like-minded states focused on boosting growth through completion of the single market and other reforms.  The 20 February letter co-signed by him and 11 other EU leaders including Mario Monti of Italy and Mariano Rajoy of Spain was the latest example of UK driven letter-diplomacy.

The BBN’s second event in Brussels also took place during the European Council last week, on 1 March, and British influence was also the focus, but from a slightly different perspective.

Jonathan Faull, Director-General for Information Society and Media at the Commission, Robert Madelin, Director-General for Internal Market and Services, Richard Corbett an advisor to the newly re-appointed President Herman van Rompuy, and Michael Collins from Citibank came together to discuss the level and effectiveness of British representation in the European Union’s institutions.

Making up 12 per cent of the EU’s population, Jonathan Faull pointed out that UK nationals made up only 3.9 per cent of the Commission’s 33,033 employees in 2011.  He said that whilst Brits were well represented at the senior levels – with six directors general – that was about to change as the 1972 intake heads toward retirement.  Under 2 per cent of all the applicants to the last concours, the competition to become an official in the institutions, were British.  He said that as a lecturer in the College of Europe, a sort of finishing school for budding officials, there wasn’t a single Brit in his class.

Robert Madelin, the other senior British-EU official on the panel, said that the “British public administration ethos adds value”, and that in order for a European public administration to work effectively, it needed the “knowledge of all member states”.

Jonathan Faull said that the “UK ethos adds quality”, but that after the veto on 9 December, he had numerous conversations in lunch queues where people of other nationalities asked “why don’t you just leave?”.  He said that this problem of perception ran counter to the fact that the UK has lots of friends in Europe, in Central and Eastern Europe having pushed enlargement and with other common-law countries in the EU such as Malta and Cyprus.

Michael Collins, from Citibank and a former official in UKREP, said that “nationality isn’t a priority for a large multinational” and that there were more important criteria for his interactions with EU officials.  He argued that it was more important not to be corrupt and to have “high standards of public administration”, adding that commitment to “evidence based policy making” and being “open and transparent” were also at the top of the list.  He said that it was an open question as to whether UK nationals were more likely to meet those criteria.

Richard Corbett, advisor to Herman van Rompuy and a former MEP, also argued that focusing on nationality was too simple – in the same way that MEPs do not divide nationally but rather politically, he argued that it was far more likely that individuals would be more likely to approach issues of policy on a case by case basis.  He argued that the climate of opinion in Britain towards the EU would make it less likely that Brits would seek out careers in its institutions.

The discussion after this initial exchange of views quickly focused on language, before moving back to the question of whether it mattered that the UK was quite significantly under represented in the EU’s institutions.

Paul Strickland, the head of unit for editing in the Directorate General for Translation said he was “surprised by the blase attitude” that he thought some of the speakers showed towards the fact of British under representation.

He pointed out that 93 per cent of English documents in the Commission are not written by English speakers, and whilst Jonathan Faull pointed out that this was inevitable, Strickland argued that the quality of written English made for bad communication from the Commission and that poor drafting would result in “bad legislation” that would get challenged in the European Court of Justice five years hence.

Everyone in the room agreed that the parlous state of language education in the UK was a significant factor in British under representation in the institutions.

A representative from Astra Zeneca spoke up to disagree with Michael Collins of Citi, arguing that UK under representation did in fact damage British business interests and furthermore that if the UK were to move to the exit of the EU, many multi-nationals which based their European operations in the UK would consider moving.

The gentleman from Astra Zeneca also argued that the Commission should be far more open to fixed or short term contracts for specific posts with more relaxed language requirements.  Jonathan Faull echoed this saying his career, where he entered the Commission in his 20s and would leave it in his 60s, having not had another job, would not be so attractive for “generation Y.”

The discussion finally turned to what the UK government should do.  Tammy Reynolds from UKREP said that a lot of the Brits whom she spoke to in the institutions are “worried about career progression” and that the lack of performance related pay was also an issue.

Robert Madelin ended the event suggesting that the UK government should, “spend time back home, explaining what ‘Europe’ really brings to UK Ltd, for example, by supporting the back-to-school visits that Berlin, Rome, Paris and others actively support already” for UK nationals working in the institutions along side EU officials from other countries to give them a flavour of UK public administration.

“]”]

Logo of the 50-year anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in 23 EU languages [Photo: European Commission

A new report by the Education and Employers Taskforce estimates the cost to the UK economy of Britain’s lack of foreign language speakers at £17 billion a year.

The report says that the UK is losing its standing in the world because many Brits cannot communicate adequately outside their own language.

Roland Rudd, the chairman of Business for New Europe, one of the members of the BBN, wrote that the urgency of the crisis is not getting through to the young.  In his foreword to the report, he wrote that the UK’s comparative lack of language skills is, “inhibiting our businesses, our national prosperity and even our international standing.”

He went on to say that ,“Quite simply, British businesses will not remain competitive unless we can communicate effectively and interact with customers and partners around the world.”

1 MARCH, 6.30pm, at the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium ///

The UK makes up 12% of the population of the European Union but only holds 5% of posts within its institutions.  In 2011, for example, less than 2% of the applicants to the European Commission Concours were British and in 2012 we will see the 1972 intake of British citizens start to retire. What does this mean for EU policy making and what does it mean for British business?

We will be holding a discussion discussion with Robert Madelin, Director-General for Information Society and Media, European Commission, Jonathan Faull, Director-General for Internal Market and Services, European Commission, a UK MEP and business representative.

This event will be of interest to all those who follow both EU and British decision making and politics as well as British citizens, including those who may be taking the forthcoming EU Concours.

Fully understanding the issues is a first step to developing pragmatic solutions to address a British problem with European consequences. We are delighted to be working with the Brussels New Generation (BNG), which is powered by the British Chamber, to highlight and facilitate discussion on these important issues.

The one-hour policy discussion will be followed by drinks and networking. The event is open to all nationalities. Registration is mandatory.

Speakers

Robert Madelin, Director-General for Information Society and Media, European Commission

Jonathan Faull, Director-General for Internal Market and Services, European Commission

Michael Collins, Managing Director, European Government Affairs, Citibank

Dr. Richard Corbett, Member of the cabinet of Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council

Moderated by Richard Corliss, Chair of Brussels New Generation

Welcome of behalf of the British Brussels Network by Phillip Souta, Director of BNE

Sign up to attend this event

Sir Kim Darroch, Baroness Ashton and Phillip Souta at the launch of the BBN

Senior Brits gathered in the residence of Sir Kim Darroch, the UK’s permanen

trepresentative to the EU, on what will probably go down as the hottest day of this year’s summer in Brussels to launch the British Brussels Network.

People moved inside in anticipation of a classic Brussels downpour (news was circulating that it was hailing in Flanders, which to seasoned Brussels hands is ten minutes’ notice to get inside).

As the heavens opened, Sir Kim began by saying that he believed the project was an idea whose time had come.

The support of the FCO and UKREP in Brussels was essential to the setting up of the network, and their offering to host the launch was a measure of how important they believed it was.

Cathy Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy echoed Sir Kim’s comments.  She said that it was essential that the UK’s voice be heard.

The UK, she said, was an essential part of the EU, and had a huge amount to contribute to discussions across all the policy areas of the Union.

Baroness Ashton, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

As director of Business for New Europe, I spoke about the big idea animating the BBN - to discuss EU policy, in Brussels, from a British perspective.  With the help of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, the ICAEW in Brussels and Nucleus, the launch was perhaps the easiest part.  The follow up is where the real hard work will have to be done.

The BBN will be announcing the next event in the next weeks.

We are working on our autumn programme of events that will bring together Brits in Brussels and members of the coalition in order to look at EU affairs from the UK’s open-market perspective.

In the mean time, follow us on twitter and join our group on Linkedin – it’s a great network, and we encourage all the Brits in Brussels involved in EU affairs to join it.

Cameron and Barroso at the European Council. Photograph: European Council

Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union.  It is where the big decisions are made and where most of the vital networking between officials in institutions and senior players from the member states takes places.

The UK is one of those major players, and is a country that believes in the power of free markets combined with a progressive public sector.  As such, the UK has every reason to try and push the EU to be as open as possible.

We believe that the open-market agenda championed by the UK needs to be pushed harder.  There is not enough discussion, for instance, in Brussels, of EU affairs from the UK’s open-market perspective.  The balance in the EU between statists and free-traders is in constant danger of tipping to the former.  That would be a disaster for the EU, and deservedly relegate it to second or third rate global status.

The British Brussels Network (BBN) will seek to provide a platform to push this agenda.  Launched by a number of partners in Brussels, the BBN is an open source project seeking to bring together Brits in Brussels to push the argument that growth and competitiveness will most likely come through openness.

First, we will provide a platform for debate on EU issues from that perspective.  Secondly, we want to bring together Brits working in EU affairs in Brussels to network and discuss these issues.  And thirdly, we want to engage Brits in Brussels in discussions with senior EU officials.  We will also work closely with UKREP to promote EU Careers.

We hope that this project will contribute to the formation of a Europe, with the UK taking a leading role, which is open and competitive and will be a powerful force for good in the world.