UK living in dream world, says EU official
The European Union has accused Britain of “chasing the fantasy” of escaping the consequences of Brexit, as it ruled out UK plans to prevent a hard border in Ireland and build a new security relationship with the bloc. A senior EU official said: “I have the impression that the UK thinks everything has to change on the EU side so everything can stay the same for the UK... The sooner we get away from this fantasy, the sooner we can talk about the future relationship.”
THE European Union has accused Britain of “chasing the fantasy” of escaping the consequences of Brexit, as it ruled out UK plans to prevent a hard border in Ireland and build a new security relationship with the bloc.
In a blistering attack that cast fresh doubt over the Brexit negotiations, a senior EU official said there had been little progress in talks in Brussels this week over the Irish border and the Galileo satellite project.
The official definitively ruled out Britain’s continued involvement in the European Arrest Warrant extradition system, but said that any weakening of law enforcement capability would be Britain’s fault.
“I have the impression that the UK thinks everything has to change on the EU side so everything can stay the same for the UK,” the official said.
“The pre-condition for fruitful discussions is that the UK accepts the consequences of its own decision,” she added, “rather than chasing the fantasy
of denying the consequences of Brexit. The sooner we get away from this fantasy, the sooner we can talk about the future relationship.”
The senior EU official revealed that any attempt by British negotiators to demand reimbursement of the UK’S £1 billion investment in the Galileo satnav system would be viewed as backsliding on the deal struck over the Brexit bill in December. Contrary to British “spin”, no such demand had
yet been made, the EU official said – but UK counterparts insisted that the EU was “fully aware” of the UK position. “The EU doesn’t negotiate under threat in other areas and particularly not here,” she said. “The assets of the union remain the union’s assets and there are no grounds for reimbursement.”
If the European Commission, which leads Brexit talks on behalf of the EU, accused Britain of backsliding over the December deal, the negotiations could be frozen. That would heap pressure on the already tight March 29 2019 Brexit deadline. The broadside exposed growing impatience in Brussels at British demands for special treatment as a non-member state, and came after an official for Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, briefed EU ambassadors and MEPS on the poor progress in the talks. He expressed “bemusement” at British demands for exceptional status in a host of EU security programmes and warned there was now little expectation of progress ahead of a vital June summit, a source at the briefings said.
UK officials expressed surprise at the ferocity of the Commission towards the British positions, arguing they should be viewed “in the spirit of negotiation” as both sides squared off at the start of a crucial five weeks. “Turbulence is to be expected,” said a senior UK source.
The row over Galileo centres on the EU’S insistence that Britain must lose access to source codes or technology to the encrypted navigation system for government and military users after Brexit. It would instead be granted access to the military applications the same as the US, without the codes.
‘The assets ... remain the union’s and there are no grounds for reimbursement’