THE European Union’s ambassador to the UK Joao Vale de Almeida is to meet Nicola Sturgeon today during a two-day visit to Scotland.
The top diplomat is to meet the First Minister after the weekly session of First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood.
His visit comes amid turmoil over food, fuel and labour shortages caused by Brexit and the end of freedom of movement, and as the SNP prepare to step up their independence campaign with the intention of Scotland rejoining the EU as a new member state.
The EU ambassador will also meet with the Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Liam McArthur, and with Anas Sarwar and Douglas Ross, the leaders of the Scottish Labour and Conservative parties respectively.
Ambassador Vale de Almeida will also hold meetings with the EU members states, Consul Generals in Edinburgh, representatives of think tanks and with members of the Scottish academia community.
READ MORE: EU ambassador questions UK's future, says he's 'proud' of Scots support for Europe
Ahead of his visit, he told The National: “I am very happy to be able to visit Scotland in person and am very much looking forward to my meetings and exchanges of views.”
The National asked the Portuguese diplomat in May whether he believed an independent Scotland could rejoin the EU.
“Let me say the following. First of all we have enormous respect, appreciation and friendship with all our friends in Scotland, those who support the European Union and are committed to European affairs at all levels from business to universities to think tanks,” he said.
“Part of my role and a real pleasure is to keep very close contact with all our friends in Scotland.”
He added that diplomatic protocol prevented him from commenting on “hypothetical scenarios” indicating the scenario outlined was hypothetical.
Vale de Almeida became the EU’s ambassador to London last year following the UK departure from the EU, converting the commission’s representative office into an embassy.
However, a prolonged row soon erupted between London and Brussels over Britain’s reluctance to grant the EU’s ambassador full diplomatic status with Boris Johnson’s Conservative government withholding the full diplomatic privileges afforded under the Vienna Convention on the grounds that the EU is not a sovereign state.
The UK’s decision to not grant diplomatic status to Vale de Almeida riled EU officials, with Brussels in turn freezing out Britain’s ambassador Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby from official communications.
Foreign Office sources said that the row had created an “unhealthy, chilling effect” between officials and that the UK was set to back down on its previous stance.
He was finally recognised by the UK as an ambassador as of May 5 this year.
The former journalist joined the European Commission in Lisbon in 1982.
READ MORE: Independent Scotland could easily join EU and we'd love to have you, MEP says
During his career in the Commission he has worked under presidents Jacques Delors, Jacques Santer, Romano Prodi and Jose Manuel Barroso. Under Santer, in 1995, he became deputy chief spokesman for the EC. In 1997 he was promoted to director for information, communication, culture and audiovisual.
Between 2004 and 2009, Vale de Almeida was the head of cabinet (chief of staff and principal adviser) for European Commission president Barroso.
From November 2009 until July 2010 he served as director-general for external relations of the European Commission.
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