BORIS LAYS DOWN LAW TO EU
PM demands ‘clean break’ from Brussels
BORIS Johnson wants a clean break from the EU in upcoming trade talks.
He aims to take
wants to “take back control” from the bloc as he toughens his stance ahead of the trade negotiations.
He will refuse to accept any deal that compromises the country’s “political and economic independence”, according to Whitehall insiders.
The warning comes ahead of a crunch meeting of ministers today.
The group will discuss their strategy for the trade talks due to begin next month.
Mr Johnson is understood to be preparing a “robust” approach, with setting Britain free from Brussels rules and regulations his top aim.
The Prime Minister will today chair a meeting of his key EU Exit Strategy Committee of cabinet ministers to approve the Government’s objectives for the trade talks.
Ahead of the meeting, a senior Government source said: “Our key point throughout all of this, our overriding objective in the negotiations, is by January 1 to have said we have taken back full control. And we won’t agree to anything which doesn’t deliver that.
“That means no rule taking from the EU and no role for the European Court of Justice. That is the test we will be judged against on January 1.
“Our red line is we have to have taken back full control by January 1 and that means no rule taking and no European Court of Justice. Independence and fully taking back control is the priority.” Mr Johnson’s most preferred outcome is a free trade deal based on Canada’s current relationship with the EU.
But he would rather walk away from the talks without a trade deal rather than compromise the UK’s hard-fought new independence.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and other senior EU figures have claimed the UK cannot have the same deal as Canada because of the country’s “proximity” to the continent.
They claim the geographical closeness means the UK and EU economies are closely intertwined and therefore should be subject to the same rules and regulations. But
Whitehall officials insist free trade deals exist between neighbouring states without the need for regulatory alignment or trans-national courts to enforce rules.
In a sign of rising tensions, French Europe minister Amelie de Montchalin yesterday accused the UK of attempting to “blackmail” the EU into accepting a poor deal.
Ms de Montchalin helped intensify expectations that the EU will take an uncompromising stance in the talks.
The senior minister in President Emmanuel Macron’s government claimed France’s farmers, fishing fleet and businesses should not have to pay the price to ensure a UK-EU trade deal is agreed by the end of the year.
She said: “In this negotiation, it must be understood by British businesses that we do not want a bad agreement – almost certainly, that we will sign up to no blackmail.”
Ms de Montchalin also claimed the UK Government should not be allowed to dictate the timetable for the talks.
She added: “It is not because Boris Johnson wants a deal at all costs for December 31 that we will sign, under pressure, a bad deal.”
EU diplomats last night finalised the negotiating mandate for Mr Barnier, which is expected to be approved by a meeting of the bloc’s General Affairs Council in Brussels today.
They have toughened up language from early drafts to make even clearer their demands for the UK to remain subject to Brussels regulations and red tape forever.
A final draft of the document said EU standards must be a “reference point” for the UK to accept.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman said: “The UK’s primary objective is to ensure that we restore our economic and political independence on January 1, 2021.” Details of the UK negotiating mandate are expected to be set out in a Government document on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson welcomed Croatia prime minister Andrej Plenkovic to Downing Street yesterday for talks aimed at strengthening ties between the nations.
‘Our red line is we have to have taken back full control by January 1 – that’s the priority’
TODAY sees a crunch EU meeting ahead of the Brexit trade talks, which begin in earnest next month. The EU’s big beast Michel Barnier will be there – he claims that geographical proximity means the UK and EU should be subject to the same regulations.
Also attending will be France’s Europe minister Amélie de Montchalin, who believes the UK Government’s make-orbreak strategy seeks to “blackmail” the EU into a lousy deal.
These points are highly contestable but in any case, they will merely embolden PM Boris Johnson to free Britain from Brussels’s rules by New Year’s Day, 2021.
The Government has stated it is taking back control from the EU and will refuse to accept any deal that compromises that goal. With this in mind, this morning the Prime Minister will chair a meeting of his EU Exit Strategy Committee of Cabinet ministers and fine-tune the Government’s objectives.
As anyone who has visited a Moroccan souk knows, you have to be able to walk away from any deal. Mr Johnson has made it clear that – failing his favoured Canadastyle option – he’d wave goodbye rather than compromise. We support that view. After all, what otherwise has been the point of the last three and a half years?