Michel Barnier has struck a defiant tone in the row over whether EU ‘diplomats’ should receive full diplomatic status in the UK. Complaining that the EU is more like a federal state than an international organisation – and therefore should have ambassadors just like the US does – Barnier said:

“I know the spin, and sometimes more than the spin, of the UK authorities speaking about the EU like an international organisation, but we are not an international organisation”

Little does Barnier know, this is exactly how Brexiteers have been telling Remainers the EU sees itself for decades. Remainers liked to pretend it was more akin to a free trade bloc, Brexiteers called it out as a burgeoning federal state. Barnier finally agrees with the Brexiteers.

This can of course be settled very easily – if the EU is to decide it is in fact a federal state (instead of merely an entity in the process of becoming one) then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have an ambassador. All they would need to do is stand down the ambassadors of their member states as there’s no need to double up. The US’s Texas and California don’t get their own ambassadors in the UK any more so why should the EU’s France or Germany? Independent states or Federal EU. Pick one or the other.