UK cannot ‘cherry-pick’ best parts of the EU, says Taoiseach
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar warned the UK can have as close a relationship with the EU as it wants, but it cannot “cherry-pick”.
The Taoiseach said the UK can’t simply continue to take the benefits of the EU after Brexit.
“As Chancellor [Angela] Merkel said, the UK can have as close a relationship with Europe as it wants to have. What it can’t do is cherry-pick. The EU is a set-menu restaurant, not an a-la-carte.
“If you’re a member of the club, you’re a member of the club. And if you want to be an associate member, you can’t write the rules yourself. That is a circle that still needs to be squared.
“Within two weeks you’ll see the draft of the withdrawal agreement published. That will be very interesting and will certainly crystallise things.”
At an INM-organised Brexit breakfast at Trinity College, Mr Varadkar said Ireland also needed to build new alliances in Europe ahead of the UK’s departure.
“They were also a very strong ally on a lot of other questions,” he said. “We are losing a friend in that regard, also a friend in terms of tax sovereignty and countries being able to set their own tax rules.”
Niall FitzGerald, the former boss of global consumer goods company Unilever, said we have a responsibility to speak out on Brexit. He said the Irish Government needed to take an “aspirational and forceful” national strategy, that has a focus on boosting infrastructure.
He said the UK had achieved zero in its negotiations with the EU. But he said it would be wrong to think the UK electorate would change its mind.