Brexit Britain is reportedly refusing to grant the European Union the rank of a sovereign state, by denying its ambassador to the UK full diplomatic rights and privileges.

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Barrell, had written a letter to Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab outlining the bloc’s frustration that the newly-independent United Kingdom would not offer statuses to its diplomats that “reflect the specific character of the EU”, which it claims it deserves because it has a currency, a court, and can make laws.

The UK, however, does not want to set a precedent by giving mission staff from the EU, considered simply another international body, the same status as diplomats from sovereign nations, according to the BBC’s report on Thursday.