Jean-Claude Juncker clearly appreciated that high-five David Cameron gave him in Brussels recently: he’s appointed Lord Hill to a sizeable economic portfolio as the UK’s European Commissioner. The full list of jobs, published here, is being billed as a ‘strong and experienced team standing for change’, and Hill, who Juncker reportedly had to google, takes the Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union portfolio. This means that has oversight of a key interest: regulations affecting the City.
David Cameron is a little more worried about another Union today, but this appointment is a boost to his plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union. It shows that he did not blow all his capital by opposing Juncker’s appointment, and that Juncker is not a vindictive man.
It will be another piece of evidence he can add to his list that he likes to dig out when critics (mostly in his own party) claim that he’s not going to get anything from Europe.
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