Germany
wants a Brexit mega deal
Berlin
proposes a new Security and Cooperation Agreement encompassing everything from
agriculture to the Erasmus student exchange program.
JULY 25,
2024 6:02 PM CET
BY JON STONE
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-wants-a-brexit-mega-deal/
LONDON —
Keir Starmer has said he wants a broad new security agreement with the EU. It
could end up being very broad indeed.
Berlin wants
to turn the British prime minister’s proposed security pact into a veritable
Brexit mega deal: encompassing everything from agricultural rules to the
Erasmus student exchange program.
“We very
much welcome the initiative of a security pact. It’s not only security, it’s
broader: so I would call it a Security and Cooperation Agreement between the
U.K. and the European Union,” Germany’s ambassador to the U.K. Miguel Berger
told POLITICO.
“We have a
headline, which is security and cooperation. And beneath that, we think we
should look for areas which are in the common interest.”
Starmer has
pledged a Brexit “reset” with the EU after turbulent relations under his
Conservative predecessors. The new British prime minister wants closer
cooperation on security — but also tighter economic ties in areas like
agriculture, chemicals, and professional qualifications.
Under
Berlin’s proposal such aspirations would be bundled under a single headline of
a Security and Cooperation Agreement and packaged with EU priorities like
improved youth mobility. Other EU members — who would need to agree to the idea
for it to go forward — might chime in with their own asks, such as improved
fishing access to U.K. waters.
The name of
the proposed deal suggested by the ambassador recalls the existing Trade and
Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed under Boris Johnson. EU member countries,
including Germany, cringe at the thought of reopening that existing accord, put
together after years of sometimes painful discussions — but are still keen to
deepen cooperation with Britain’s new government. An SCA might be one way to do
it.
Willingness
to cooperate
Starmer has
moved quickly to build ties with Germany since taking office on July 5, meeting
with Chancellor Olaf Scholz three times in just 10 days — first at a NATO
summit in Washington, then at the Euros final in Berlin, and again at the
European Political Community (EPC) summit in Oxfordshire.
The PM has
used the meetings and those with other leaders to judge EU openness to fresh
Brexit talks on the new British government’s priorities. He told lawmakers in
the House of Commons last week that he detected an “appetite” for negotiations.
Keir Starmer
has pledged a Brexit “reset” with the EU. |
The feeling
appears to be mutual. Berger, who attended the EPC summit last week along with
Scholz, said Starmer “was really able to convey this message of a reset.”
“I think
that was the feeling for many of the EU heads of state and government after the
meeting: that Starmer really very clearly showed this willingness to cooperate.
I would say the message of reset really came through,” Berger said.
“What I can
really see is that not only in Germany but I think overall in the European
Union people have been very impressed with the very fast outreach by the new
British government.”
Starmer is
expected to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before
the end of the summer. It could be an opportunity to work out exactly what will
be up for negotiation. One EU official granted anonymity to speak freely said
that both sides are in touch, but that no timing is confirmed at this point.
Some
misunderstanding
Berlin’s
strong suggestion that a new agreement should include a section on visas for
young people is likely to be controversial in Westminster.
In
opposition, Starmer’s Labour party snubbed EU aspirations for talks, saying it
had “no plans” and likening the proposal to freedom of movement, which it has
ruled out. Starmer would not be drawn on whether he had discussed improved
youth mobility with leaders at the EPC when he appeared in the Commons last
week.
But Berger
and other EU diplomats have been keen to stress the significant differences
between EU proposals on the matter — which are about making it easier for
certain people to get conditional time-limited visas — and a return to freedom
of movement.
“Regrettably,
there was some misunderstanding about the proposal of the EU Commission to open
negotiations with the U.K. which went to the member states,” the ambassador
said.
“And there
was, I think, the misunderstanding that this could be interpreted like a kind
of [free movement] for young people through the backdoor, which is definitely
not the intention — I want to make that very clear.
“I think
that's very important that people understand this has nothing to do with the
migration dossier, because people come here to study, work, do internships,
whatever, and then they would leave. So this is not about migration.”
The new
British prime minister wants tighter economic ties in areas like agriculture,
chemicals, and professional qualifications.
Mobility
remains “very important, not only to Germany but to all 27” as a component of a
new Brexit settlement, he said.
“That would
include a youth mobility scheme. It would include the Erasmus program, school
trips, youth exchanges, the question of visa costs, which are more than 10
times higher to come to the U.K. than the other way around. So I would say
there are many, many things which affect the day-to-day mobility, especially
for young people, and I would really like to see some progress there.”
Views differ
The idea of
broadening out an EU-U.K. security pact did not originate in Berlin: Starmer
and his Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier this year made the case for just
such an approach to delegates at the Munich Security Conference. Under their
proposals such a deal would have stuck to areas at least tangentially related
to security, such as supply chain security, climate security, and perhaps
migration.
Their idea
was not welcomed by everyone in Brussels. Speaking after the event, one EU
diplomat, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, politely declined.
“We’re not sure we see it the same way,” they told POLITICO, adding their
country was open to a security deal but was “more comfortable with the classic
definition of ‘security.’”
Figures
close to French President Emmanuel Macron have also voiced skepticism at the
need for a new agreement.
Nathalie
Loiseau, a senior French MEP who was France’s Europe minister during Brexit
talks, told a meeting of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee in
March: “While I regret that the TCA does not contain a cooperation framework in
the field of foreign and security policy, we need to be pragmatic … and focus
on those areas where we can formalize our existing cooperation within those
existing structures.”
But Berlin’s
proposals differ in one significant respect: they would turn a new agreement
into a vehicle to address not just British priorities, but EU ones too. It
might make wavering capitals think again.
Barbara
Moens contributed reporting from Brussels.
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