EU ultimatum to UK over Brexit plan in breach of international law - BBC... // Boris Johnson angers everyone but Brexit talks limp on

Boris Johnson angers everyone but Brexit talks limp on

 

The EU presents the UK government with an ultimatum but doesn’t torpedo trade talks.

 

By CHARLIE COOPER 9/10/20, 10:37 PM CET Updated 9/10/20, 10:45 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-angers-everyone-but-brexit-talks-limp-on/

 

LONDON — Boris Johnson's latest Brexit gambit has seriously upset a whole lot of people — but not enough to blow up the trade talks (yet).

 

The EU on Thursday issued a furious and firm condemnation of the U.K.'s decision to give itself powers — via domestic legislation — to unpick key elements of the Brexit deal struck between London and Brussels less than a year ago.

 

After meeting Johnson's Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove to express the EU's "serious concerns" about the plan — which would see the U.K. override sensitive parts of the agreement governing trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. — European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič said if the U.K. followed through it would amount to an "extremely serious violation of the Withdrawal Agreement and of international law."

 

He gave London an end-of-September deadline to change course or else risk legal action, but Gove insisted the U.K. would be doing no such thing. “I made it perfectly clear to Vice President Šefčovič that we would not be withdrawing this legislation. He understood that," Gove said.

 

"Of course, he regretted it," he added.

 

Divisions exist in more areas than is often acknowledged on the U.K. side, according to Barnier's account.

 

Johnson also faced a backlash at home, where several Conservative grandees (including one Brexiteer former leader) voiced their dismay at the government's willful and unabashed willingness to breach an international treaty. In the U.S., meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi — the country’s top Democratic elected official — rammed home her warning to the U.K. that doing anything to undermine the Good Friday Agreement (as the EU says the British plan would) would mean "they should not even think about" winning a U.S. trade deal. "What were they thinking?" she said.

 

"In more than 30 years as a diplomat I have not experienced such a fast, intentional and profound deterioration of a negotiation," said Germany's ambassador to the U.K., capturing the general mood.

 

And yet, despite the dramatic diplomatic blow-up, trade talks between teams led by Michel Barnier and David Frost go on. Theories abound as to why Johnson has picked this moment to make such a bold move — one that appears to repudiate a deal he himself agreed. Some in the EU think it may be a negotiating ploy to force concessions from Brussels. If that is the case, the EU is determined not to take the bait.

 

"The U.K. would have probably preferred if we walked out of the negotiations until the bill is adjusted so that they could blame us for a no deal. But we’re not playing along with the blame game," said one EU official.

 

 

“By setting a deadline and publishing such a clear statement we have made very clear that this crosses a line. If they don’t respect that deadline, the EU can escalate via a wide range of legal measures, such as an infringement procedure. We won’t link it with the negotiations on the future relationship, because that’s exactly what they want.”

 

So it was that Barnier emerged from the eighth formal round of future relationship negotiations — the final day of which coincided with Gove and Šefčovič's meeting — with a pledge to carry on talking, and a pointed reminder that "mutual trust" was a necessary foundation for future ties.

 

Frost was if anything more upbeat, calling this week's round of talks "useful" and not even mentioning the elephant in the room. “We remain committed to working hard to reach agreement by the middle of October, as the prime minister set out earlier this week," he said.

 

Pushback on all sides

Divisions exist in more areas than is often acknowledged on the U.K. side, according to Barnier's account. Not just the question of the U.K.'s state aid regime, but a range of concerns remain; particularly that the British might — if granted access to the EU's market on the terms they want — undercut EU environmental and labor standards. The battles over fisheries access and the dispute mechanisms that would govern a trade agreement also continue.

 

Nonetheless, Barnier said, the two teams would remain in touch.

 

For the EU, the mood was more of exasperation than despair. Whatever the ultimate goal or goals of Johnson’s government, EU officials said the threat of breaching the Withdrawal Agreement was only poisoning the process.

 

“Simply, we will not be put under pressure,” a senior EU official said. “This bill might well be part of tactical moves to review Barnier’s mandate, which no member state wants to do, or put even more pressure on the ongoing negotiations where the U.K. is not ready to give in on level playing field [issues]. Our assessment is clear. We will not be put under pressure and [will] stay cool.”

 

The official said there was also no inclination for EU27 heads of state and government to spend any significant amount of time on Brexit at their European Council summit later this month, where the main discussion will focus on Turkey and the Mediterranean.

 

The reaction in the U.S. has reinforced a perception that the U.K. is risking not just the economic damage of a no-trade deal Brexit by taking the stance it has, but also reputational damage, said another EU official. But there's a downside for the EU as well, they added, with the bloc now at loggerheads with all its major neighbors: Turkey, Russia — and the U.K.

 

On the home front, the government's action has prompted growing disquiet within the Conservative Party itself, with former leader (and Brexiteer) Michael Howard saying he "never thought" he would hear a British minister admit — as Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis did this week — that the U.K.'s plan to breaks international law (in a "specific and limited way").

 

Further measures that the EU fear could undermine the Withdrawal Agreement are expected in the forthcoming Finance Bill.

 

A rebellion is forming against the legislation in question, the Internal Market Bill, which will be fast-tracked through parliament over the next two weeks, with veteran Tory MP (and lawyer) Bob Neil putting forward an amendment that would put a parliamentary block on the plans. "I hope it's at least an indication as a government that really, you need to think very hard and carefully about going down this route," he told Times Radio. "For heaven's sake, try and find some other way."

 

The House of Lords is also likely to resist the bill and even if it does pass into law, it will not be the end of the matter, as amending legislation could be introduced later should the U.K. decide to change tack. Further measures that the EU fear could undermine the Withdrawal Agreement are expected in the forthcoming Finance Bill.

 

But the EU is trying to keep calm and carry on. "There is still time, not all hope is lost and everyone needs to be calm and measured," said one EU diplomat. "But the U.K. needs to change course."

 

David Herszehhorn, Barbara Moens, Cristina Gallardo and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.