GREEN LIGHT FOR TRADE TALKS
EU could start talks as early as next month on doing business with Britain
Alone with her thoughts, PM determined to face down Juncker and Co
FORMAL talks on a comprehensive free trade deal with the EU could begin as soon as next month, it emerged last night.
In a breakthrough for Theresa May, the EU said it was starting work on its negotiating stance on trade immediately.
Donald Tusk, EU Council president, said he was ready to receive British proposals for a trade deal – despite the fact EU leaders ruled yesterday that there had not yet been ‘sufficient progress’ on the ‘divorce bill’.
The move came amid growing concern on the Continent about the possibility of a messy split from the UK, the EU’s biggest trading partner.
Belgian economy minister Kris Peeters said a no-deal Brexit could cost 1.2million jobs across the EU and have a ‘catastrophic’ effect on his own country. He said the figures, from an official Belgian study, showed ‘how important it is to reach a deal’.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday said she was hopeful of beginning formal trade talks with the UK in December.
EU officials told the Daily Mail an informal summit in Gothenburg on November 17 could be expanded to include discussions on trade and a two-year transitional deal.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said Mrs May’s Brexit presentation to EU leaders on Thursday night had been ‘helpful’ – and revealed they had told her: ‘You might want to see us in Gothenburg.’
A senior EU official said: ‘Of course we can have a meeting before December. It truly depends on whether there will be any step [forward] on the UK side or not.’
Rapid progress will depend on the Prime Minister providing fellow leaders with more detail on how much she is willing to pay in a ‘divorce’ settlement. Mr Rutte said the EU needed ‘more meat on the bone’ about Mrs May’s pledge to ‘honour our commitments’ to the EU.
But Mrs Merkel struck an upbeat note, saying there were ‘zero indications’ that the talks would end without a deal. She added: ‘I truly want an agreement – and not an unpredictable resolution.’
The German leader conceded for the first time that the EU will have to make concessions from its rigid negotiating position, saying: ‘I see the ball not only in the UK’s court.’
But she warned that the divorce bill had been ‘dominant’ in discussions – and that trade talks were likely to be ‘much more difficult’.
EU leaders offered Mrs May the olive branch on trade after she warned them her political weakness at home meant she could not be pushed much further.
The Prime Minister is under pressure from Tory Eurosceptics to pull the plug on the talks if they drag on for much longer and to prepare the UK to leave without a deal.
In a presentation over dinner in Brussels, she urged fellow leaders to give her a deal ‘we can defend to our people’. Some EU leaders are said to fear they could end up having to negotiate with Boris Johnson or even Jeremy Corbyn if they allow Mrs May to fail.
The Prime Minister yesterday said Brexit negotiations still had ‘some way to go’. But officials were privately encouraged by the breakthrough in talks, which the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier this month warned were ‘deadlocked’.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant said last night: ‘We always knew the EU would play for time and try and bargain for as much cash as possible … But the EU needs trade too.’
In a sign of the tensions Brexit is causing in Brussels, Mr Tusk questioned Mr Barnier’s assessment, saying: ‘After Prime Minister May’s intervention last night and our discussion about Brexit this morning, my impression is that the reports of the deadlock between the EU and UK have been exaggerated.’ But Jean- Claude Juncker claimed he ‘would have used the word deadlock four times, not only three times’.
The European Commission president added: ‘I hate no deal. I want a fair deal with Britain.’
Mr Tusk yesterday said: ‘I would like to assure our British friends that in our internal work we will take account of proposals presented.’
This will allow UK officials to influence a deal much earlier than expected. The EU’s 27 remaining members took just 90 seconds to approve the so-called ‘scoping’ work in preparation for possible talks.
÷AUSTRALIA’s top diplomat in the UK said Canberra is ready to strike a quick trade deal with Britain after Brexit – if ministers agree not to protect markets from competition.
High Commissioner Alexander Downer claimed an agreement could be reached even faster than the one Australia struck with the US, which was signed after 15 months of talks.
He said: ‘The UK is an extremely attractive partner … so we would be very enthusiastic about doing a trade agreement with you.’
‘Deadlock exaggerated’