The European External Action Service is looking for a residence for the ambassador of the European Union to the United Kingdom, the Spanish Pedro Serrano de Haro. The feat is not easy, considering that London is one of the cities with the most expensive housing in the world.
The current home of Serrano de Haro – who before his appointment was the chief of staff of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell – has a rental contract that will not be renewed, because its owner is selling it. It is located in Chelsea, the same neighborhood where many embassies are concentrated, including the Spanish one.
The member states would have vetoed the chosen mansion considering it “too luxurious”
The problem has arisen when looking for a new home. As they have published Politico and the british The Times the new residence chosen by the European External Action Service has been rejected by the EU member states for considering it “too luxurious”.
It is a 600-square-meter mansion whose annual rent, ensures The Times, is 900,000 pounds (more than a million euros). The house is located on Upper Cheyne row, also in Chelsea. It is an area popularly known as Millionaires’ row (the section of the millionaires), where several personalities have had residences such as the former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg or the leader of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger.
From the European External Action Service they insist that they do not comment on procedures or discussions in which no decision has been made. In any case, sources consulted by The vanguard They explain that in the process of finding a home for Serrano that is as suitable as possible, a cost-benefit analysis is made, and also whether it should be rented or bought, taking into account that it is public money from taxpayers.
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The ambassador’s residence must have a space reserved for the reception of diplomats. The ambassador to the United Kingdom must not only have enough space to accommodate the twenty-seven representatives of the European Union in the country, but also rulers or counterparts from other states. Meetings must be accessible to all interlocutors, so the space must be conditioned for people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
In addition, housing also requires a private space in which the ambassador’s family can live. Serrano’s current residence is not entirely adequate either because it is not spacious enough to separate professional from private life.
Community sources defend that the Upper Cheyne row house meets these conditions (spaciousness, functionality, and suitable to be a place of representation) and stress that it is a house with characteristics along the same lines as other ambassadorial residences in London .
The rental price of the house is within the market in the area known as Prime Central London (around the famous Hyde Park), and where the vast majority of diplomatic residences are located.
London has a complicated real estate market with an imbalance in supply and demand that especially affects housing with diplomatic uses, whose prices have increased by more than 20% in the last year according to European sources. For now, the EU is still looking for a residence for its ambassador in the third most expensive city on the planet.
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