EU AT WAR OVER NO DEAL
As Macron plays hardball, Ireland warns of ‘very, very costly’ failure to strike agreement – and even Merkel’s not on board
EMMANUEL Macron was facing pressure from EU leaders to back down on Brexit last night.
British officials claim the French president derailed progress last week by forcing EU negotiator Michel Barnier to toughen his stance at the last minute.
But with time running out European leaders warned it was vital to strike a trade agreement.
Ireland’s premier, Micheal Martin, said he felt a deal would be reached because the alternative would be ‘damaging to all concerned’.
The country’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said any other outcome made ‘no sense’ for either side.
Mr Coveney, whose country faces the most severe repercussions from No Deal, said failure would be ‘very, very costly and very, very disruptive’.
He added: ‘That, in the context of a post-Covid world which is hugely challenging economically for everybody, doesn’t make any political sense and it certainly doesn’t make any economic or social sense either.
‘For all of those reasons, I think the negotiating teams and senior politicians will find a way of getting a deal here, but at the moment we are in a difficult place as we try to close it out.’
France’s Europe minister yesterday acknowledged that some other EU leaders – including Germany’s Angela Merkel – did not endorse France’s hardline stance on state aid, workers’ rights and environmental standards.
In an interview with Journal du Dimanche, Clement Beaune said: ‘There are different sensitivities across the 27 EU countries. It would be naive to deny it. But the negotiating mandate is detailed and we are sticking to it.
‘As for Chancellor Merkel, she wants a deal, but she also defends our demands – and she knows the European market well enough to guess how the German economy would suffer from a bad deal. In short, the British gamble on trying to divide the EU has failed.’
On Friday, Mr Beaune warned that President Macron was ready to veto a deal if it fell short of French demands.
But yesterday he said France was willing to contemplate the UK being free to diverge from EU standards – provided Brussels is able to take ‘corrective measures’ if the differences become too great.
‘The British want access to the single European market without constraints for their social, environmental or health standards, which is unacceptable,’ he said. ‘For our part, we are ready to put in place a system in which a divergence of standards would be allowed but beyond which corrective measures would be taken.
‘The British tell us that this is unfair because other “third countries” do not have these same constraints, such as Canada. But we have to realise that the UK will be our major trading partner outside the EU tomorrow. There is ten times as much trade between the EU and UK than with Canada.’
France has some support from other coastal states, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which are also concerned about their domestic fishing industries.
But other member states, led by Germany, are anxious to avoid a destabilising No Deal outcome at a time when the continent is already facing a double-dip recession as a result of the pandemic.
In a further sign of EU tensions, the Netherlands last night suggested it was ready to compromise on fishing rights. But government sources said the Prime Minister would not accept Mr Macron’s demands on the socalled level playing field, where he is pushing for Brussels to have the power to impose immediate tariffs if the UK moves too far from EU regulations in future.
Gavin Barwell, who was Downing Street chief of staff during Theresa May’s premiership, said: ‘Some in the EU think the UK will be forced back to the negotiating table.
‘But there is a real danger that if we don’t get a deal now we will have significant damage to the relationship which takes some time to put right.’
Mr Barnier is to brief EU ambassadors this morning after trade talks reopened last night.