# Britain’s most senior EU official resigns. Receives standing ovation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636 "2016-06-28T18:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@mr\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/1 "2016-06-28T18:05:39Z")
In today’s EU parliamentary session, after Schultz profoundly thanking him, Hill received about a minute of continuous applause with many members standing up. Despite the abrupt way the applause died which made it all look a bit artificial, it made me wonder if the man had at some point almost saved the EU from certain death. I looked at his wiki page but it is one of those CV with lots of appointments but no concrete achievements. Could somebody shed a light? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/2 "2016-06-28T18:42:47Z")
As [del]a fat cat Brussels bureaucrat[/del] a former EU commissioner, Jonathan Hill is totally committed, with body and soul, [del]to a centralized, European monster state[/del] to the idea of European unity. The members of the European parliament hate to so see him go, he is one of them and by applauding him, [del]they show the middle finger those who opted for the Brexit[/del] they honor an Englishman who remains a loyal European. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/3 "2016-06-28T18:49:17Z")
To put it another way, he honorably recognized that it is inappropriate now–an irreconcilable conflict of interest–for any British person to sit in the EC, the members of which are explicitly sworn to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/4 "2016-06-28T18:54:06Z")
I’d like to point out that, in the logic of the EU institutions, Lord Hill was not “Britain’s most senior EU official”. He was a Commissioner. The Commission is a supranational institution, not an intergovernmental one (as, for instance, the Council would be); even though there is the rule that each EU Member State gets to have one of these jobs, the Commissioners are not intended to represent the interests of the Member State whose nationality they possess. That would be the business of the Council. The Commissioners are considered to act on behalf of the EU as a whole and be guided by considerations at that level. Whether and to what extent they actually do that is a question that would lead us well into GD territory, but at least conceptually Lord Hill was about as much “Britain’s most senior EU official” as, say, Joe Biden is “Delaware’s most senior U.S. official”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/5 "2016-06-28T18:54:07Z")
Who is he? 🙂 Seriously, he’s a political non-entity who rode the gravy train. That said, he has earned my respect for resigning. In another thread I mentioned how notable it was that so few officials had resigned after the Brexit vote and I hope that more of those officials who used their position to campaign for Remain have the honour to follow his example. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/6 "2016-06-28T19:07:17Z")
There is, of course, the issue of hundreds of UK citizens who serve as European civil servants: > [@](#): > > Coming (maybe) Brexodus of Eurocrats > > Thousands of the Queen’s subjects in Brussels face uncertain professional futures. > By > > Maïa de La Baume > > 3/1/16, 5:30 AM CET > > Updated 5/18/16, 3:56 PM CET > > Back home in Britain, they are known only as footsoldiers in a faceless army of Eurocrats. In Brussels, EU officials like Jonathan Faull, Stephen Quest and Lowri Evans are senior members of an influential community that faces an uncertain or even unemployed future if the U.K. decides to leave the EU. > > They and hundreds of other British civil servants in the European institutions must now endure a four-month waiting game ahead of the U.K.’s decisive In or Out referendum on its EU membership. Only after that vote will many of these bureaucrats, political aides, administrators and other officials get an idea of whether they have a professional future in Brussels, or if their jobs will even exist at all. > **[Coming (maybe) Brexodus of Eurocrats](https://www.politico.eu/article/brexodus-from-brussels-looms-for-british-eu-officials-brexit-leave/)** > > Thousands of the Queen’s subjects in Brussels face uncertain professional futures. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/7 "2016-06-28T21:51:00Z")
Brexodus? Eurocrats? If nothing else, this past week’s events have exposed me to a bunch of new portmanteaus… ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/8 "2016-06-29T03:32:26Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Who is he? 🙂 > > Seriously, he’s a political non-entity who rode the gravy train. That said, he has earned my respect for resigning. In another thread I mentioned how notable it was that so few officials had resigned after the Brexit vote and I hope that more of those officials who used their position to campaign for Remain have the honour to follow his example. No, they don’t have to resign. Very few UK citizens who work for the EU institutions were appointed _because they are from the UK_ or _to represent the UK_. As long as they are competent and willing to do the job to which they have been appointed, why should they not continue to serve the EU? I don’t remember that, when the Irish Free State left the UK, Irish-born public servants in the UK were required to resign. If Scotland leaves the UK, I don’t think anybody has suggested that Scottish people have to resign from the UK civil service. Hill is an exception because he was in fact appointed to his position by the UK government (even though, as already pointed out, he doesn’t represent the UK in that position). ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/9 "2016-06-29T13:06:44Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Brexodus? Eurocrats? > > If nothing else, this past week’s events have exposed me to a bunch of new portmanteaus… After a scandal, Brexitgate . . ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/10 "2016-06-29T13:13:58Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > No, they don’t have to resign. I was referring to public officials within the UK. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/11 "2016-06-29T13:34:47Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > No, they don’t have to resign. Very few UK citizens who work for the EU institutions were appointed _because they are from the UK_ Yes, they were. You have to be a citizen of a member country to apply for such a job. I don’t know if you need to stay a citizen of a member country to keep the job, however. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/12 "2016-06-29T19:53:44Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > No, they don’t have to resign. Very few UK citizens who work for the EU institutions were appointed _because they are from the UK_ or _to represent the UK_. As long as they are competent and willing to do the job to which they have been appointed, why should they not continue to serve the EU? I don’t remember that, when the Irish Free State left the UK, Irish-born public servants in the UK were required to resign. If Scotland leaves the UK, I don’t think anybody has suggested that Scottish people have to resign from the UK civil service. I work for an EU institution myself. The general rule is that you need Union citizenship (i.e., a nationality of an EU Member State) to be eligible to be a staff member; exceptions are possible, but that’s the principle, and it is in fact a legal requirement. Remember, that’s for employees of an EU institution, i.e., people working as European civil servants at the European level. They’re not supposed to be representatives of their Member States. This did, in fact, lead, to some unrest amog colleagues with British citizenship, since after Brexit they would not be eligible to work there anymore. The current policy line is that existing contracts will be honoured (i.e., those with a contract can keep working there even beyond Brexit), to protect vested rights, but no new British nationals would be hired after Brexit. I guess other EU institutions and agencies will handle it very similarly. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/13 "2016-06-29T20:03:27Z")
No doubt some will be seeking citizenship in other member states. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/14 "2016-06-29T22:08:59Z")
\*\*Schinitte \*\*, IIRC its EU Member States Citizens and permanent residents. Many years ago, there was a job opening at the ECJ, and I was quite interested, and I did qualify as a Commonwealth Citizen (to my surprise). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/15 "2016-06-29T23:45:10Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I work for an EU institution myself. The general rule is that you need Union citizenship (i.e., a nationality of an EU Member State) to be eligible to be a staff member; exceptions are possible, but that’s the principle, and it is in fact a legal requirement. It may be a requirement to GET the job but not KEEP the job. I know from personal experience those can be two separate things. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/16 "2016-06-30T06:25:28Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > \*\*Schinitte \*\*, IIRC its EU Member States Citizens and permanent residents. Many years ago, there was a job opening at the ECJ, and I was quite interested, and I did qualify as a Commonwealth Citizen (to my surprise). Well, as far as my employer is concerned, the [rule](http://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/faq/html/index.en.html) is: EU Citizenship or citizenship of an acceding country. The latter term surprised me since I was not aware of that rule, and unfortunately the link does not define exactly what an “acceding country” is; I suppose it means a country that is in formal accession negotiations (which would include, for instance, Turkey). I’ve never met a colleague with such a nationality, though. Commonwealth citizenship in itself would not be sufficient because it grants right of permanent residence in the UK (as well as right to vote in the UK in general elections if you live there) but not UK citizenship. Different institutions might handle it slightly differently, though. It may also differ between short-term positions and permanent contracts. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/17 "2016-06-30T06:31:47Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > It may be a requirement to GET the job but not KEEP the job. I know from personal experience those can be two separate things. I doubt there’s a precedent for that for the European institutions since no EU country has ever left the EU. So the situation would have arisen only in cases where the change from EU citizen to non-EU citizen arose not because the country left the EU, but because somebody lost the nationality of the EU Member State on whose nationality he or she took up the job. Such situations are rare, and I would suppose that if they occur, it would most likely occur because they take up the nationality of another state, and the national laws involved do not allow multiple citizenship. In that case, your eligibility would not end if the other citizenship nationality taken up is also an EU nationality. I would suppose that cases where a staff member of an EU institution or agency loses the EU nationality and adopts a non-EU one are so rare that they would be handled on an ad hoc basis without a general rule behind them. The Brexit, on the other hand, would require a rule for general application to a large number of people. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/18 "2016-06-30T07:01:33Z")
OK, having checked, the rules are as follows: 1 To be appointed to a position in any of the EU institutions, you have to be a national of one of the Member States . . . 2 . . . unless an exemption is authorised by the appointing authority. If certain positions are open to citizens of applicant states, or to applicants who, by virtue of their citizenship, enjoy permanent residence rights in a member state, that would be an exemption. My guess is that exemptions are granted for (among other things) hard-to-fill positions, in order to widen the pool of potential applicants, but they could also be granted because, e.g., the role is going to require somebody to deal with applicant states, and a knowledge of the languages of applicant states is helpful or necessary, and you’re much more likely to find suitably-qualified candidates if you open the competition up in that way. 1. No position is reserved for citizens of any particular member state. Thus there is no position that you have to be, e.g., a UK citizen to hold. 2. The regulations don’t really address what happens if the holder of a position ceases to hold the citizenship of an EU member state. Presumably this isn’t something that, up to now, has come up very often. If the UK does leave, and if there’s no arrangement whereby UK citizens can retain EU citizenship, then the terms of leaving will have to address this point. 3. The Commission has already announced that, in the event of a Brexit, fonctionnaires of UK citizenship will retain their positions and will not be prejudiced. So presumably this is something that will be addressed in the terms of leaving, if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/19 "2016-06-30T15:51:18Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > If the UK does leave, and if there’s no arrangement whereby UK citizens can retain EU citizenship, then the terms of leaving will have to address this point. What’s to address? EU citizenship = citizenship in a member state. The way for UK citizens to keep EU citizenship is to get citizenship in another state (which may or may not require renouncing their British citizenship, in different states). This may not be necessary to simply keep their present jobs, but it’s going to make a lot of other things about living in the EU easier. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636/20 "2016-07-01T01:48:59Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > What’s to address? EU citizenship = citizenship in a member state. The way for UK citizens to keep EU citizenship is to get citizenship in another state (which may or may not require renouncing their British citizenship, in different states). This may not be necessary to simply keep their present jobs, but it’s going to make a lot of other things about living in the EU easier. Depending on their circumstances, they may not be eligible for citizenship of another member state. I myself am eligible for the citizenship of only one member state - the one I’m a citizen of - and I’m hardly unique. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-s-most-senior-eu-official-resigns-receives-standing-ovation/758636.md?page=2)