Richard Szostak has the reputation of being a high-flyer. The EU diplomat has already negotiated with Switzerland once before. Now the Confederates are back in his portfolio. If that works out?
Few eurocrats are likely to be more familiar with the peculiarities of Switzerland than Szostak.
When asked his opinion of Richard Szostak, Jean-Claude Juncker raves. “He is a diplomat of the impossible,” says the former EU Commission President about his former right-hand man. “He makes the impossible possible. He has a broad knowledge of Europe, not just the EU. He’s a man of the world.”
Juncker seems to be enchanted by the man who served him for many years as diplomatic adviser, Brexit specialist and chief technical negotiator for Switzerland. Szostak had become a “loyal friend” to him “not only because of his cleverness,” said the ex-commission chief when asked by the NZZ.
“Friendly, serious, diplomatic”
And completely different voices praise the super civil servants in Brussels. For example, former Swiss State Secretary Mario Gattiker, who often met Szostak privately to negotiate the agreement on the free movement of people. Gattiker described the hour-long conversations as a professional highlight.
Szostak, born in 1978, is currently unavailable for an interview. The Polish-British dual citizen says over the phone that he first has to familiarize himself with the Swiss dossier again. That sounds surprising, however, because only a few eurocrats are likely to be more familiar with the peculiarities of Switzerland. After all, for four years, from 2014 to 2018, he met regularly with the state secretaries Roberto Balzaretti, Pascale Baeriswyl and Mario Gattiker to talk about topics such as migration and the free movement of people.
Who is Szostak? in one Portrait of the news portal “Politico” the 43-year-old is described as a “friendly, serious and diplomatic” head. As the son of Polish parents who fled to London to escape the communist regime in Warsaw, the martial arts-loving father of three was socialized in Great Britain. But he celebrates his heritage by speaking fluent Polish, visiting Polish supermarkets in Brussels and owning both a Polish and a British passport.
According to “Politico”, the family’s history is an eventful one: one of Szostak’s grandfathers was a colonel in the Polish army who joined the Polish government-in-exile in Great Britain when the Nazis occupied Poland. The other grandfather became a member of the Polish underground movement during World War II and languished in prison for years.
After completing his doctorate in international relations in Cambridge, Szostak moved to Brussels. Here he was initially employed at the European Council on questions of border control and combating terrorism. In 2012 he joined the cabinet of EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding as an expert on data policy, where a certain Martin Selmayr became aware of the young Pole.
Selmayr, a former EU Secretary General, former head of cabinet and close confidante of Juncker, still enjoys the reputation in Brussels of being a merciless but brilliant Eurocrat who could make life difficult for his subordinates. But anyone who was talented and loyal to him could make a career for himself under Selmayr. Szostak belonged to this category. His acquaintance with the strict German catapulted him to the very top – to Juncker.
As a diplomatic adviser to the Luxembourg ex-commission head, Szostak got to know the intricacies of the EU’s relations with third countries such as Switzerland and, above all, Great Britain. Among other things, he was responsible for monitoring the day-to-day work of Michel Barnier’s newly founded Brexit Task Force after the British exit agreement in 2016.
The talented EU diplomat Richard Szostak.
A specialist for Brexit
Szostak is now working closely with both countries again. Because at the end of December, a new department called “Western European Partners” was created in the General Secretariat of the EU Commission, which Szostak has taken over as head of. The complicated relationships with the United Kingdom, but also with the EEA countries and Switzerland are covered there.
The General Secretariat works directly with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. To date, the so-called Swiss Desk at the European Foreign Service was responsible for the bulky Confederates. While Szostak technically retains the upper hand, Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic makes an appearance at the political level. He is the direct contact for Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
The fact that the Brexit specialist is now also responsible for Switzerland is probably not a good omen. The EU is likely to apply the tough course it is pursuing to Great Britain to Switzerland as well. The room for extra solutions for Bern is thus smaller, since Brussels will only grant them if London could also have them.
Cassis and State Secretary Livia Leu cannot hope that the talented Mister Szostak, being British, will treat a non-EU country like Switzerland with leniency. On the contrary: As a man who has to monitor the divorce agreement with Great Britain, Szostak will tend to take a hard line towards Bern.