Don’t expect EU nations to back you, May is told
THERESA May was yesterday warned not to expect EU nations to take her side against Brussels.
The Prime Minister is on a European tour in a bid to sell her Brexit blueprint directly to European Union leaders.
She visited Austria for talks with her counterpart there, and also the Czech PM, as part of a UK government cross-Europe charm offensive this week by ministers.
But before Mrs May’s trip yesterday, the Czech Europe minister Ales Chmelar insisted the bloc was united behind negotiator Michel Barnier’s tough approach.
He told the BBC: “The fact that we are maybe critical of some aspects of EU policies does not mean we wouldn’t stand behind a very strong position on the integrity of the single market.”
Czech differences from Brussels on some policy areas did not allow “a more open position for trying to find loopholes in the EU position” on Brexit, he warned the UK. He also backed Mr Barnier’s rejection of Mrs May’s cornerstone customs plan to have Britain collect import tariffs on the EU’s behalf, on goods destined for the Continent.
UK negotiators hope to win over Mr Barnier on the customs plan but EU sources said that it was “wishful thinking”.
Austria’s 31-year-old rightwing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told his guest in Salzburg: “From our point of view it is important to avoid a hard Brexit.” But UK observers were unclear whether by this he meant a “no-deal” exit.
Mrs May stressed yesterday to Mr Kurz and Czech PM Andrej Babis, that her latest blueprint will maintain frictionless cross-Channel trade and that it was in all sides’ interests to reach a good deal.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament delivered its own stark warning to Mrs May.
Its Brexit Steering Group signalled the Parliament would not approve the Withdrawal Agreement unless there was a “credible, genuine and operational” backstop proposal to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland if a permanent solution cannot be found in time.
HAS the EU got a death wish? It is certainly beginning to seem that way given that its most senior figures now appear to be acting in direct opposition to the EU’s own interests. Their behaviour over Brexit is proof positive of this: in their manic desire to punish Britain for leaving they seem prepared to damage their own national interests.
Do you think the German automobile industry wants us to leave without a deal? Or French wineries? Do you think any member of the EU wants British tourists to shun it from now on? In any pragmatic reasoning whatsoever it is in the best interests of everyone to hammer out a fair deal or risk economic damage across Europe.
Liam Fox certainly thinks so. The International Trade Secretary has warned that the EU is putting “political ideology” before the economic interests of its own people, while other EU heads of state appear to be burying their heads in the sand. The Czechs have been warning our Prime Minister that they cannot go over Michel Barnier’s head and negotiate with her independently. Well the citizens of that country had better hope that he changes his stance.
If Britain is forced into leaving with no deal we will make it on our own while the citizens of the member states who are staying will know their own governments were prepared to sell them down the river and all in the name of petty revenge.