Agree deal in 18 months, says negotiator
EUROPE’S chief Brexit negotiator was accused yesterday of “grandstanding” as he warned Britain could not expect to be allowed to benefit from leaving the European Union.
Former French foreign minister Michel Barnier also said in Brussels the terms of the deal must be hammered out within 18 months, rather than two years. This would give the European Council, European Parliament and the UK itself six months to ratify the agreement.
He warned the UK could not “cherry pick” which EU rights and obligations it wanted to keep. He said: “Being a member of the EU comes with rights and benefits. Third countries can never have the same rights and benefits since they are not subject to the same obligations.”.
Theresa May plans to trigger Article 50 before April next year.
But last night Downing Street made clear it did not accept the timetable. A spokesman said: “In terms of how long actual negotiations take, clearly that’s a matter that will resolve itself as a result of the negotiations.” Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the Commons’ Treasury Select Committee, said of Mr Barnier: “He should have the economic wellbeing of Europe and its citizens as his overriding objective, not grandstanding to Brussels.
“Both sides in the negotiations can gain together or lose together.”
Pro-Brexit campaigners welcomed Mr Barnier’s comments because it pointed to a timely Brexit. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said 18 months was “absolutely ample” to agree a “great deal”.
WHEN you have no decent cards in your hand it’s difficult to win a game of poker. And so it was yesterday that the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator laid the political equivalent of a pair of twos – while all the time Theresa May is sitting with several aces up her sleeve. Michel Barnier may have kept a straight face and pretended that he held the winning hand but he was fooling no one. Least of all Downing Street.
This is only the first round in what promises to be a longrunning game. But it is clear that from the very start the EU is wearing a blindfold because it doesn’t want to be able to see the unpalatable truth – that it’s on a loser. No amount of bluff and bluster – and there will be plenty more in the months ahead – can conceal the fact that Europe is in no position to dictate to us the terms of Brexit.
Providing the Government keeps its nerve and its promises, we will go when we choose on the terms that we choose. It’s as simple as that. So fingers crossed.
We certainly will not be bullied by political nonentities like Barnier. The very idea of a former French agriculture minister, whose own country is in turmoil, telling us what will or will not be acceptable to the bureaucratic bumblers in Brussels is laughable.
THERESA MAY had the perfect response to this Gallic gall when she declared yesterday on a visit to Bahrain: “I’m interested in all these terms that have been identified: hard Brexit, soft Brexit, black Brexit, white Brexit, grey Brexit – and actually what we should be looking for is a red, white and blue Brexit.”
That’s the spirit. The more I hear from Mrs May the more I am grateful that she – and not Mr Push-Me-Pull-Me Cameron – is at the helm. Someone has got to stand up to these people and remind them of a few home truths.
Like the fact that the UK economy is continuing to grow at a rate France can only dream about. That we have record employment and an unemployment rate which is the envy of