He is the one and only, Martin Selmayr, a German, and a civil servant, now Secretary General of the whole European Commission, since 2018.
The 47 year old is feared as the most powerful man in Europe and was even called “a monster” by his very own boss.
The mini-Fuhrer insists that the UK must pay 39 billion pounds in a Brexit bill or put its future with the EU at risk –even if there is — No Deal
His threats and maneuvers are legend as a fierce infighter who takes no prisoners.
He has been quoted by the European press as saying that the EU must be “punitive in its negotiations with Britain” as a signal to other deviant countries.
Selmayr is said by POLITICO to be “arguably the most powerful right hand man ever to prowl the upper halls of the Berlaymont” in Brussels—the EU’s HQ.
He refers to himself as “the adult in the room” and as “someone you want in charge” in tumultuous times.
An ardent federalist, Selmayr believes fervently in just one thing: the United States of Europe.
He is also very positive on the need for a EU army.
As the architect of Jean-Claude Juncker’s vision for Europe, Selmayr is overtly anti-American.
He championed the Spitzenkandidat system, which brought his drunken and ineffective boss to power, with none other than himself as the real power behind the throne.
He brokered that deal with Merkel’s Germany, which was seen as nothing short of a putsch.
This amounted to a naked German takeover of Europe and its institutions.
Selmayr is on record and makes no secret about his plan to establish the EU as an all-powerful supranational/globalist entity in a multipolar world to challenge the US.
The European Parliament last year adopted a resolution, with a majority of 71%, that called for the resignation of Selmayr, the former right-hand man of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker whose rushed promotion was criticised as “a coup-like action”.
Who is this almighty shadowy Selmayr figure?
As a hugely divisive person, Selmayr has risen quickly to the top of the EU heap.
One Dutch MEP called his promotion a farce, arguing it “destroys all credibility of the European Union.”
Known to be wildly and blindly ambitious, Selmayr makes no bones about his power grab.
Others refer to it as what it truly is: cronyism.
A careerist, Selmayr is hell bent on his own accomplishments and extended role.
He knows he has benefitted enormously from his patron, namely- Jean-Claude Juncker, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg who was wedged in as President of the European Union back in 2014.
The EU is an unelected, bloated, overpaid, bureaucracy and is known to be an “old boys club”.
Sylmar fits in perfectly.
He does not play by the rules but instead bends them to his own advantage.
He is known to be a leaker and was accused of leaking very private information from a dinner at Number 10 in London, where Theresa May was in talks with Mr. Juncker.
It was done to damage her.
Jokingly perhaps, the former German Minister of Finance quipped, “Do you know the difference between Selmayr and God? God knows he is not Selmayr.”
Selmayr is referred to as the UN-civil servant in the corridors of the EU and is feared by associates and detractors alike.
Born in sleepy Bonn, West Germany during the Cold War in 1970, Selmayr has painted himself in near mythical terms.
He is a very clever lawyer and a spin-doctor of some acclaim.
He has played the system like a virtuoso violinist and in the process has created many enemies as well as a spoils ladder of those deeply indebted to him.
The EU powerbroker received a doctorate from Germany’s Passau University in 2003 and has very deep ties to the CDU Party there and to Mrs. Merkel and her inner circle.
Sylmar is best understood as a Eurocrat. A badge he wears with great pride.
He may be a German by ancestry but with the mantle now of representing ALL of Europe.
His family roots are most noteworthy. They tie him on both his maternal and paternal sides to the Nazi Wehrmacht.
It’s no coincidence that the EU had already prepared a statement on Monday that ruled out any Brexit renegotiation, even before the ‘Brady amendment’, which requested the replacement of the backstop within the withdrawal agreement had been voted on. One of the reasons why, is that a certain Martin Selmayr is now very much sitting in the EU’s driving seat.
A lot of media attention in the UK is often spent on whatever the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and his team are saying, but I am hearing in Brussels that when Theresa May’s top Brexit advisor Olly Robbins visits EU institutions, he now meets Martin Selmayr, the controversial Secretary-General of the European Commission.
Some member states are apparently uncomfortable about his growing influence, and they should be, because Selmayr has a reputation for behaving like a bull in a China shop. With the risk of no deal looming, one can only wonder why Ireland, the Benelux, Germany and France – who are risking a lot of damage, for which they areinsufficiently prepared – tolerate a hardliner in charge who’s making this prospect more likely.
Until recently, Selmayr served as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief of staff. His recent appointment to the top levels of the European Commission, bypassing seasoned eurocrats, ‘could be viewed as a coup-like action’, according to the European Parliament, and did ‘not follow EU law or the Commission’s own rules’ according to the European Ombudsman.
Selmayr’s appointment raises serious questions as to how Jean-Claude Juncker’s rumoured condition may have opened the door for people like Selmayr to occupy positions of power that should never be reserved for mandarins like him.
When it comes to Brexit, Martin Selmayr has been regularly accused of complicating the negotiations unnecessarily. British officials have accused him of wanting to ‘punish’ the UK for leaving the EU, which he apparently considers to be a ‘tragedy’ that will, however, re-energise the European project as a case study in the essential value of the Union.
“WHAT’S the difference between Martin Selmayr and God?” runs the joke. “God does not think he’s Selmayr.” As political gags go, it is not exactly a side-splitter (its origins are said to be German). But it simultaneously captures the strange blend of fear and scorn with which Mr Selmayr is regarded in Brussels, and the obsessions of a sometimes-parochial town with a Eurocrat who is barely known outside it.
Mr Selmayr was appointed secretary-general of the commission, a shift to a bureaucratic role that entrenched his power and decoupled his professional fate from that of Mr Juncker, whose term expires in October next year. After some digging by the press the full story emerged. Mr Selmayr had earned his promotion via an eyebrow-raising two-step: first securing the newly vacant job of deputy secretary-general over one “rival” (his deputy, who promptly withdrew her application), and then, hours later, the top job itself when the incumbent unexpectedly quit. The news was delivered to the college of 27 commissioners on February 21st; perhaps surprisingly, none objected. One hour later Mr Juncker himself made a rare appearance in the commission’s press room, lauding the qualities of the man who had engineered his ascent to the presidency in 2014. The coup was complete.
Mr Juncker often seems semi-detached from his role, leaving space that Mr Selmayr has skilfully exploited.
A dedicated, hard-working official with a framed copy of the Schuman declaration above his desk, Mr Selmayr offers, and expects, the highest degree of loyalty. He is comfortable with both legislative detail and high politics, negotiating directly with Greek officials during the debt crisis of 2015. His fingerprints are on almost every signature policy of the Juncker commission, and not always for the good. He continues, for instance, aggressively to push a refugee-quota scheme that has set the EU’s governments against one another.
But Mr Selmayr is also happy to deploy the dark arts in pursuit of grander goals. Lurid accusations sit at his door, from bullying commissioners to threatening miscreant journalists with violence. He carefully controls the flow of information, excluding officials he considers unhelpful or incapable, and is a master of the strategic leak. Many distrust his federalist vision for Europe’s future; he is in constant battle with officials who serve the EU Council, where members of national governments sit. Now his foes sniff vulnerability. “You cannot machine-gun people into line and then expect them to applaud you when they have the opportunity to pay you back,” says an (otherwise supportive) official.
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