Friday, July 08, 2016

Keeping up appearances

Financial Times --

Goldman Sachs has hired the former head of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso to help it through the fallout from the UK’s shock decision to quit the EU. The Wall Street investment bank announced on Friday that Mr Barroso is joining as non-executive chairman of London-based Goldman Sachs International (GSI), the bank’s largest subsidiary. He will also be an adviser. Mr Barroso, who presided over the commission for a decade, told the Financial Times that he will do what he can to “mitigate the negative effects” of the Brexit decision. If the UK loses access to the EU single market, US banks may need to move big parts of their large European businesses out of London. “Of course I know well the EU, I also know relatively well the UK environment,” Mr Barroso said. “If my advice can be helpful in this circumstance I’m ready to contribute, of course.”

If anyone is professing confusion about what the term "elite" means in the context of the Brexit outcome, they should be confused no longer.

Incidentally, and as has been overlooked yet again in the Chilcot report fallout, Jose Manuel Barroso was the host of the final Bush-Blair Iraq War Summit in the Azores.

No comments: