Is that a threat? EU chief says we must face ‘consequences’
THE EU’s chief Brexit negotiator declared yesterday that Britain would be forced to ‘face the consequences’ of leaving and stopped from negotiating a bespoke trade deal.
On the eve of a key Cabinet meeting on the country’s future outside the bloc, Michel Barnier said the UK would have to take an off-the-shelf model.
He insisted that Theresa May would not be allowed to ‘cherry pick’ the best bits of those deals already agreed between the EU and countries such as Norway or Canada.
The intervention is an incendiary move given that the Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted she wants a bespoke agreement for a ‘deep and special’ partnership.
Mr Barnier’s attempt to block a bespoke deal comes in contrast to EU member states who increasingly seem open to the idea of a tailor-made arrangement.
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said last week that a ‘Ceta plus plus’ agreement should be the cornerstone of the new UK-EU relationship, referencing the EU- Canada trade deal known as Ceta.
Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian prime minister, added: ‘We need a tailor-made model for the relationship between the UK and the EU.’
It is not clear on what authority Mr Barnier made his assertion as EU leaders are yet to agree their guidelines for how he should conduct the next phase of Brexit negotiations. Today, Mrs May will gather the big beasts of her Cabinet to discuss for the first time what they want from the country’s future relationship with the EU.
There are suggestions Brexit- supporting ministers will use the summit to push Mrs May to scrap the working time directive which limits what workers can do in overtime, but Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove last night distanced themselves from the demand.
Mr Johnson laid down his red lines by demanding that Britain ditches a raft of EU laws so it is best placed to ‘maximise the benefits’ of Brexit by signing new trade deals.
The Prime Minister has insisted the UK does not want a Norway- style relationship with the EU, which would involve remaining in the single market, and desires closer ties than a Canadian-style trade deal would allow.
But yesterday Mr Barnier said the EU would seek to limit Britain’s options as he ruled out a specially- tailored deal. In an interview with Prospect magazine, he said: ‘They have to realise there won’t be any cherry picking. We won’t mix up the various scenarios to create a specific one and accommodate their wishes, mixing, for instance, the
‘There won’t be any cherry picking’
advantages of the Norwegian model, member of the single market, with the simple requirements of the Canadian one. No way. They have to face the consequences of their own decision.’
His comments directly challenge Mrs May’s Florence speech in September when she argued the UK would ‘not seek merely to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries’.
She rejected the ‘stark and unimaginative choice’ between the two models enjoyed by Norway and Canada, warning: ‘I don’t believe either of these options would be best for the UK or best for the European Union.’
The EU-Canada deal slashes tariffs on goods but trade in food is restricted by quotas and there is no additional access to the single market for financial services based in Canada.
Brexit Secretary David Davis last weekend advocated a ‘Canada plus plus plus’ deal.
Mrs May will chair the meeting of her Brexit ‘war Cabinet’ today, bringing together her nine most senior ministers including First Secretary Damian Green, Chancellor Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Mr Davis, Mr Johnson and Mr Gove.
Tomorrow the full Cabinet will discuss their positions on the socalled Brexit ‘end state’, before the Prime Minister is expected to set out her vision in a landmark speech in the New Year.
Mrs May’s ministers are divided between those who think the country should stick closely to EU rules to maintain trade with the bloc and those who think distancing ourselves from Brussels will be rewarded by maximising the potential of trade deals with countries across the globe.
Yesterday, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Johnson set out his stall for a move away from EU laws.
He said: ‘What we need to do is something new and ambitious, which allows zero tariffs and frictionless trade but still gives us that important freedom to decide our own regulatory framework, our own laws and do things in a distinctive way in the future.’