BREXIT BEGINS
Meet the key players
Theresa May, British Prime Minister
The 60-year-old prime minister emerged victorious from a bitter and divisive leadership battle after her predecessor, David Cameron, quit following Britain’s vote a year ago to leave the EU. But her leadership has been thrown into doubt after her decision to call an early election in order to bolster her hand in Brexit negotiations backfired spectacularly this month. Her Conservative Party’s comfortable majority in the lower house evaporated following a lacklustre campaign.
Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary
Britain’s shaggy-haired foreign minister is a Latin-quoting maverick and former journalist who once compared the EU to Adolf Hitler in trying, “by different methods,” to create another super-state.
It is hardly shocking, therefore, that Johnson was a prominent leader of the successful referendum campaign to take Britain out of the EU.
What was surprising was May’s decision to appoint a man known for his countless gaffes as her country’s top diplomat.
Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator - Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50
Barnier has a complex job in trying to reconcile the whims of 27 member states and face Britain with one voice. A mountain man from France’s southeast, he made a name for himself as copresident of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. He was twice European Commissioner and supervised the reform of the European banking system after the financial crisis that started in 2008.
David Davis, United Kingdom Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
The title is a mouthful and the task is even more challenging for Davis, a long-serving lawmaker and staunch Euroskeptic who served under Conservative Prime Minister John Major in bruising 1990s dealings with the EU.
The longtime advocate of Britain quitting the EU was a natural choice to lead the British government’s new department overseeing the Brexit talks.
A former special forces reservist, Davis is expected to be a tough negotiator.
Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President
Juncker is a master in his own right of blunt quips and deadpan humour. He’s labelled one EU leader a “dictator” and threatened to call for the independence of Texas if U.S. President Donald Trump continues to criticize the EU. The Luxembourger is a canny political survivor who reached the EU’s pinnacle from his tiny Grand Duchy of barely half a million people through shrewd alliances and an instinct for political survival.
His Commission is leading the Brexit talks.
Donald Tusk, European Council President
So far, so good, for the head of the EU summits, who must make sure that all 27 nations show no divisions during the talks. In a bloc where member states disagree on everything from finances to migration, Tusk has been able to ensure remarkable unity in the face of Brexit, the biggest challenge in the EU’s 60-year history. The 60-year-old Pole’s steely resolve in consultations and skills in personal relations have kept in line the political left and right, and the North and South.