EU names ambassador to post-Brexit Britain

The European Union on Friday named an ambassador to post-Brexit Britain, to take up his duties on February 1, the United Kingdom's first day outside the bloc.

The nomination of Joao Vale de Almeida, previously Brussels' top envoy to the UN and to the US, came after top EU officials signed the UK's divorce papers.

Early in his long career with the European Commission, Vale de Almeida was on the team of spokespersons that fielded questions from journalists -- including one Boris Johnson, who was a Brussels-based correspondent three decades ago and is now British prime minister.

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced in a statement that the appointment of an ambassador was necessary because, from February 1, "the United Kingdom will be a third country".

As a consequence, the EU will maintain in the UK a "delegation" -- analogous to an embassy -- just as it does in other non-EU countries such as Turkey, the US or Australia.

Vale de Almeida, a 62-year-old Portuguese national, is "the first head of the future EU delegation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland," Borrell's statement said.

Britain had been notified of the appointment, he said.

As such, he will be a key figure watching over implementation of the divorce deal and in contributing to negotiations that will decide future relations between Britain and the EU.

During his time as EU ambassador to the US between 2010 and 2014, Vale de Almeida participated in talks on an EU-US trade accord, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, that US President Donald Trump ended up stopping.