EU must get real

The current deadlock in the Brexit-eu negotiations is unsurprising to anybody experienced in negotiation behaviour in the real world, outside of the heady heights of the European Union.

This became clear from the beginning when the EU lead negotiator enunciated as a binding principle that both sides must agree on the gross sum to be paid by Britain to the EU first before any discussion can take place on the other relevant issues that would form the eventual package of agreements that would be implemented at the end of this process.

If such a principle applied in general negotiating practice the consequences would be dire across a whole range of public life. Consider a union negotiating with an employer demanding agreement first on the percentage wage increases the employer will pay before the union will negotiate on the productivity changes required by the employer. Deadlock is inevitable.

The broad principle essential in negotiation is that nothing is agreed by either party until everything is agreed by both parties. This protects both parties from manipulative practices by either side. The European Union negotiator apparently is surprised, and not a little disappointed, at the inevitable failure of his negotiating strategy to make progress.

I am not surprised at all. Just who is advising him about

negotiating in the real world outside the EU bubble?

GAVIN KENNEDY

Professor Emeritus Suffolk Road, Edinburgh

It was astonishing that Joyce Mcmillan should feel the UK is involved in a “betrayal” of the Irish Republic over Brexit (Perspective, 13 October). Although economic links between the two countries have been strong, it is idle to pretend our neighbour has been totally dependent on economic policy made here. Certainly the Irish punt was tied on a 1:1 basis to sterling for more than 50 years after independence, and both countries joined the European Union on the same day in 1973. But the Republic made its own decision to depart from sterling by joining the European exchange rate mechanism in 1979, and subsequently the euro in 2002. It is a matter for debate as to whether this was an important factor in the steady growth rates there in the 1990s and throughout the Noughties. Matters like astute use of structural funds, a relatively young labour market, a dynamic inward investment programme, good working relations between business, unions and government played their part too. The Republic is no doubt aware who its main trading partner is, but has made its own decisions in the last 40 years. It has to accept responsibility for those decisions.

A hiatus exists over the Brexit negotiations. It is still too pessimistic to assume that they cannot be overcome. Agreements do need to be struck on how to manage the border in the island of Ireland, the terms of trade between the two countries, the question of citizenship for those living in both north and south. I cannot believe that the diplomatic, financial and technical expertise does not exist to get those agreements. They will be struck, no doubt,

taking into account the economy, the history and the traditions that exist in the whole island. Respect will be the watchword as both sides lay out their plans. Divisive words like “betrayal” are not helpful given the troubled history

between Westminster and Dublin. The Republic does not need to feel betrayed because it has shown it can make its own independent mind up in times of crisis.

BOB TAYLOR

Shiel Court, Glenrothes

I see comparisons between the prelude to World War I and the prelude to Brexit. The Liberal Christians of pre-war Europe came to admire strong men like German nation-builder Bismarck. One’s “country right or wrong” was the catchphrase, and with resultant loss of social morality, they went gladly to war. Today, we are back in Ultimatum territorythe threat is not of war, but of trade-war.

Of course, those who have been seduced by “strong and stable” hysteria think that it is only threats – threats move mountains. But this is denial. You have to be ready and willing to take the shilling, just like the volunteers of 1914, if threats are to have currency.

Strong and stable politicians have to be strong enough to cope unthinkingly with carnage. But we won’t just have four years of carnage. The CBI and Rabobank have warned politicians that complacency will be unforgivable. As we continue to witness falls in investment, skilled immigrants, numbers in banking, the value of the pound and our industrial productivity, we too will come to realise that idealogues who make us think, “my ideology right or wrong”, are no wiser than our forbears who over-identified with “my country right or wrong”. Four years of trench warfare was an awful price to pay for those who suffered. But the Rationalism of the Enlightenment still deludes us. We believe wrongly that we are naturally reasoning, reasonable beings. In truth the old dictum applies: “men love in haste and repent at leisure”.

ANDREW VASS

Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh