UK warns against messy EU divorce

May to meet Macron

VIENNA, Aug 1, (Agencies): Britain’s foreign secretary warned anew against a “messy divorce” with the European Union that could poison future relations as he visited Austria on Wednesday, bringing his message to the country that holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Britain is due to leave the EU in March, but the two sides have not agreed on their future relationship and concerns are mounting that no deal will be reached in time. Differences persist over the terms of a new trade setup and how to regulate the border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

“We are very concerned that, as things stand at the moment, we are heading for ‘no deal’ by accident — a ‘no deal’ situation which would have a profound impact on the relations between Britain and the EU countries for a generation,” Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said after meeting Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl.

Hunt said Prime Minister Theresa May has made a “big choice” in seeking a close future relationship with the EU, with the UK’s economy remaining closely integrated.

“There is a real risk of a messy divorce, which would be a huge geostrategic mistake,” he said.

Hunt, who took a similar message of appeal to Germany and France in recent days, dismissed suggestions that London is going over chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s head to individual governments. Brexit negotiations are being led by the EU’s executive Commission.

Hunt

“We don’t want to negotiate with anyone other than the EU Commission; we recognize that is the correct and legal thing to do,” he said. “But in the end, the outcome of those negotiations are a choice for European countries from whom the Commission gets its mandate.”

Hunt said that “time is very, very short” but a delay in Britain’s departure is “highly unlikely.”

Kneissl said there is “a high degree of cohesion” within the EU on Brexit talks, even though the bloc is divided on other issues such as migration. She said that “we have a pragmatic attitude” toward the negotiations.

Poland said on Tuesday that the risk of Britain dropping out of the European Union with no agreement on post-Brexit ties “cannot be ruled out” and it would spike if London and the bloc fail to agree details in October.

Britain’s political meltdown and disagreements with the bloc over issues including the Irish border cast an increasingly long shadow over chances for a broad deal to regulate their relationship from day one after Brexit, which is due next March.

A no-deal Brexit is widely expected to sow chaos for people and businesses alike as there would be little clarity over what replaces more than four decades of collaboration on everything from food safety standards to airline regulations.

“The European Council sitting ... to be held in October, 2018, will be a key moment,” the Polish government said in a statement referring to a meeting of EU leaders planned in Brussels.

Talks with May will be followed by discussions between the remaining 27 leaders on whether they find acceptable whatever deal emerges with London by then.

“If there is no binding agreements, the risk of a fiasco of talks will rise significantly,” Warsaw said, adding it would then move to safeguard the interests of its entrepreneurs and citizens, of which there are about one million living in Britain.

Social discontent with workers arriving in masses from the poorer eastern EU states like Poland in search for better-paid jobs in Britain played a big role in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

EU immigration to Britain, including from Poland, has fallen since.

“EU net migration continues to add to the UK population with around 100,000 more EU citizens coming to the UK than leaving,” the country’s Office for National Statistics said this month.

“The estimated number of EU citizens coming to the UK ‘looking for work’ continued to decrease over the last year and the number coming to the UK for a definite job has remained stable.’

Britain is likely to strengthen a law that favours ethical firms bidding for government contracts, experts said ahead of the sector’s biggest policy review in years, as the UK seeks to cement its status as a global leader for innovative businesses.

Experts said a new strategy to support social enterprises — businesses that seek to do good and make a profit — is likely to be revealed in August, after the government invited the public to submit their ideas earlier this year.

“If it’s the right strategy, it could propel things forward like it did in the early days of Labour,” said Dai Powell, chief executive of HCT, Britain’s biggest transport social enterprise, which hires the long-term unemployed as bus drivers.

The Labour Party championed social enterprises during its 13-year rule, creating a Social Enterprise Unit in the trade department in 2001 to promote firms that could create jobs in deprived areas and provide innovative public services.

Britain is seen as a global leader in the innovative social enterprise sector, with about 70,000 ethical businesses employing nearly 1 million people, according to Social Enterprise UK, which represents the growing industry.

PARIS:

Negotiate

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French President Emmanuel Macron will host Theresa May on Friday, the Elysee Palace said Tuesday, as the British prime minister races to secure support for a deal on her country’s exit from the European Union.

The two leaders will hold a working meeting and private dinner at the presidential retreat at Bregancon, where Macron and his wife Brigitte will be spending their summer holidays.

May, who will attend with her husband Philip, will be the first foreign leader invited to the fort at Bregancon, perched on a small peninsula on the Mediterranean coast.

Macron’s office did not note any specific agenda items, but an agreement on Britain’s divorce from the EU — set for March 29, 2019 — must be forged in principle before a European summit in midOctober.