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EU closes ranks after UK’s Brexit bombshells
The Brits ‘are making it very easy for Barnier to keep
support in EU capitals,’ says an EU official.
By BARBARA
MOENS 9/7/20, 8:15 PM CET Updated 9/7/20, 8:47 PM CET https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-closes-ranks-supports-michel-barnier-uk-brexit-salvos/
The EU
closed ranks behind chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday after a
series of high-impact U.K. media stories published on the eve of the latest
round of negotiations on a future relationship.
As
negotiators prepare for the eighth round of talks which begin in London on
Tuesday, not for the first time Brussels is somewhat baffled by the U.K.'s
apparent strategy.
The Brits
"are making it very easy for Barnier to keep support in EU capitals,"
said one EU official closely involved in the talks. "But their timing is
stunning. At this point, we should go underwater to resurface with a
compromise. Instead, this media offensive leads to another breach of trust
between the two sides. And the level of trust is already very, very low."
U.K. Prime
Minister Boris Johnson on Monday threatened to walk away from the talks if
there's no deal by mid-October to pursue an "Australia-style" trade
agreement. It came a day after the U.K.’s chief negotiator David Frost gave a
rare interview to the Mail on Sunday warning Britain will not "blink"
on the main sticking points of the negotiations.
And biggest
of all, the Financial Times wrote that the U.K. plans to introduce legislation
this week that would undermine parts of the Withdrawal Agreement on state aid
and Northern Ireland.
"I
hope this is nothing more than another threatening act during the negotiations
but even if that’s the case, it’s counterproductive” — MEP Christophe Hansen,
of the Parliament's trade committee
The latter
has already been contradicted by Downing Street, but the overall effect in
Brussels has been disbelief, as the EU has repeated time and again that the
implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement is a prerequisite for any deal on
the future relationship.
'Keep calm
and support Michel Barnier' That
message was sent again by Brussels on Monday, by the big boss herself. "I
trust the British government to implement the Withdrawal Agreement, an
obligation under international law and a prerequisite for any future
partnership," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.
A Commission spokesperson said Barnier would raise the issue with Frost this
week.
"I
hope this is nothing more than another threatening act during the negotiations
but even if that’s the case, it’s counterproductive,” said Christophe Hansen,
the lead Brexit MEP on the European Parliament's trade committee. "We're
aiming for a deal, but we don't want a deal at any cost. If the U.K. would step
back from the Withdrawal Agreement, it looks like they at any cost don't want a
deal."
An EU
diplomat also pointed out the breach of trust by the U.K., saying, "If
they don't live up to their obligations on one international treaty, how do you
know they will live up to the obligations of the next agreement we're currently
negotiating?"
Yet these
reports won't change the outcome of this week's negotiating round, as a
breakthrough wasn't expected anyway. "We are fully concentrated on making
the most out of this week’s negotiating round, and out of negotiating rounds
that will follow," a Commission spokesperson said.
The EU
diplomat pointed out French EU minister Clément Beaune's tweet over the
weekend, which said, "Keep calm and support Michel Barnier."
Media storm But the
U.K. media salvo still worries Brexit officials.
Given how
the U.K. government's messages were splashed on the front pages of major
newspapers, they could be a way for London to prep a domestic audience for a
no-deal Brexit, if Johnson considers the political cost of another U-turn to be
too high. Or they could be an attempt to lower expectations while trying to
leverage the EU into giving in on state aid and fisheries by threatening to
tear up the Withdrawal Agreement in the event of no deal.
When asked
if there was a silver lining ahead of this week's round of talks, officials
pointed to the fact that Brexit is back on everyone's radar.
For months,
the Commission has been signaling that the end of the transition period will
lead to barriers in trade and other cross-border exchanges, deal or no deal. It
has been informing national governments and European businesses about the need
for preparations, but attention has been focused on the coronavirus pandemic.
It's hoped that the fresh media attention on the Brexit talks will remind
governments why a deal is so important.
Either way,
the EU believes the ball is now in the U.K.'s court. Barnier has indicated
where the EU can show flexibility to find a compromise, and Brussels feels it's
now up to London to do the same.
"Look
at the trade numbers," said the first EU official. "If there's no
deal, both sides end up with a nosebleed, but the U.K. will have a concussion
on top of that."
Authors: Barbara Moens |
Reneging on Brexit deal would strengthen case for
breaking up UK, government told
Johnson to deliver ultimatum to EU as minister defends
plan as addressing ‘a few loose ends’
Peter
Walker Political correspondent
@peterwalker99
Mon 7 Sep
2020 08.32 BSTLast modified on Mon 7 Sep 2020 10.07 BST
Reneging on
any obligations under the Brexit withdrawal agreement would make the case for
breaking up the UK stronger, the government has been warned, as a minister
defended the plan as simply addressing “a few minor loose ends”.
After it
emerged Boris Johnson is drawing up legislation that will override the Brexit
withdrawal agreement on Northern Ireland, threatening the collapse of talks
with the EU, the SNP said leaving without a deal would cause “lasting damage to
Scottish jobs and the economy in the middle of a pandemic”.
Ian
Blackford, the SNP’s leader, said “By threatening to undermine the UK’s
international treaty obligations and impose a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on
Scotland against our will, the prime minister is proving he cannot be trusted
and is underlining the need for Scotland to become an independent country.”
Johnson is
to put an ultimatum to negotiators this week, saying the UK and Europe must
agree a post-Brexit trade deal by 15 October or Britain will walk away for
good.
Ahead of
his comments, the Financial Times reported that the UK could row back parts of
the UK’s agreement with the EU on state aid and customs arrangements for
Northern Ireland.
It is
understood the UK government believes the original protocol is drafted
ambiguously enough to allow for a change of interpretation, something likely to
be bitterly disputed in Brussels.
A UK
government source told the Guardian the plan was part of the preparation for a
no-deal exit that would present a number of new barriers to trade from Northern
Ireland.
Asked about
the proposals, the environment secretary, George Eustice, said such a move
would merely tackle “a few minor loose ends”, adding: “We’re not moving the
goalposts.”
Eustice
confirmed that any changes to the withdrawal agreement, hailed by Johnson
before December’s general election as forming an “oven-ready” deal with the EU,
would be connected to trade between businesses in Northern Ireland and the rest
of the UK.
He told Sky
News that while it was accepted that “some checks on some goods” would be
needed, for example for agri-foods, some areas were not pinned down by the
withdrawal agreement.
“The point
about all this is, there’s been this conundrum about the negotiations on
leaving the European Union around how we handle that very special relationship
with Ireland,” he said.
“The news
this morning can exaggerate certain things. The point is that the Northern
Ireland protocol is agreed, we’re working with that in good faith. But it was
always recognised there were a few minor technical issues that still needed to
be resolved through a joint committee process.
Where there
are legal ambiguities at the end of that, on things like exit declarations and
things like that, we need to provide businesses with the certainty they need.”
However,
the idea of the UK government seeking to rewrite an international agreement it
signed up to only months ago is likely to be seen in a very different light by
others.
Labour said
the prime minister was “threatening to renege on the UK’s legal obligations”
and called it “an act of immense bad faith: one that would be viewed dimly by
future trading partners and allies around the world”.
The news
was condemned by Ireland’s foreign affairs minister, Simon Coveney, who helped
broker the original Brexit settlement. He said any change would be “very
unwise”.
On Monday,
the prime minister will set a firm deadline of 15 October – the date of the
European council – for a deal to be signed, with the mood bleak as formal talks
resume this week between the UK’s lead negotiator, David Frost, and the EU’s
Michel Barnier.
If no
agreement is reached before the deadline, the UK will “move on” and accept that
a deal cannot be struck, Johnson will say, adding that no deal would be a “good
outcome”.
The prime
minister will strike a belligerent tone, suggesting there will be no movement
from the deadline and claiming the UK is ready to trade on World Trade
Organization terms from January.
“There is
no sense in thinking about timelines that go beyond that point,” he will say.
“If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free trade
agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on.”
Johnson and
his allies have repeatedly said they did not believe earlier negotiations made
the threat of no deal tangible enough.
EU
officials had previously said the deadline would be the end of October. Sources
close to the talks have suggested fresh faces and interventions by member
states are now needed to break the impasse after days of recriminations.
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