Bloc hardens terms for Brexit
PM pushes unity in Wales campaign visit
LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday held her first talks with key EU Brexit negotiators, as the bloc hardens its position ahead of a summit to lay down its “red lines”.
Ms May hosted European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and chief negotiator Michel Barnier at Downing Street after press time last night for the first face-to-face talks since her historic triggering of the two-year withdrawal process.
The encounter comes as the EU has toughened its strategy, making new demands over financial services, immigration and the bills Britain must settle before ending its 44-year-old membership in the bloc.
The latest draft negotiating guidelines, agreed on Monday by Mr Barnier and European diplomats, point to months of difficult talks ahead as the EU seeks to ensure Britain does not get a better deal outside the bloc than inside.
According to the document, the other 27 EU countries will seek to hold Britain liable for the bloc’s costs for at least a year after it leaves in 2019 — longer than was previously proposed.
Britain will also be required to give EU citizens permanent residency after living there for five years, in a challenge for the government, which has vowed to limit immigration.
And the guidelines recommend that Britain’s dominant finance industry will not necessarily be tied to any future trade deal with the EU and that it must also stick to the bloc’s rules if it wants easy access to EU markets.
On the other side, Ms May is seeking to shore up her mandate for the Brexit talks by calling a snap election for June 8, with polls suggesting her Conservatives will return with an increased majority.
She has committed to pulling Britain out of Europe’s single market, but says she wants to form a new partnership with the bloc.
Ms May’s spokesman said the visits show that Britain “will be approaching the negotiations in a constructive manner and with great goodwill”.
But Nina Schick, associate director at advisory firm Hanbury Strategy, said there was in a sense in Britain of “at best optimism, at worst just not understanding where the EU side is coming from”.
The leaders of the other 27 EU nations will meet on Saturday to set down the bloc’s red lines, though the talks will not begin until June.
Ms Schick, who works with the Open Europe initiative, said that the tougher guidelines “are not really a surprise” and that both sides were likely to “reiterate their positions” at the Downing Street talks.
Ms May has already held talks with senior EU figures, including European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and European Council chief Donald Tusk, who visited Downing Street on April 6.
Meanwhile, Ms May on Tuesday said every vote will count in the general election as she pushed her promise of strength and stability in a speech in Wales.
Contrasting her plan for Britain with a threat of “weakness” and “chaos” under Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, Ms May told activists not to believe polls that put her more than 20 points ahead.
“Make no mistake, it could happen,” Ms May said in a speech in Bridgend.
“Remember the opinion polls were wrong in the 2015 general election. They were wrong in the referendum last year.
“We will be out there working for every single vote because this is an election in which every single vote counts.”
The very fact shemade a high-profile campaign stop on Tuesday in a seat Labour has held for the past 30 years, shows she’s confident of her prospects for the election.
In Wales, a largely rural country that has long been a stronghold of her Labour opponents but which voted in favour of Brexit, Ms May took aim at opposition parties to press her argument that only she can win a good deal with the EU.
Her visit is timely, with Labour on the back foot over its Brexit plans and an opinion poll suggesting her Conservatives are on track to win a majority of parliamentary
seats in Wales on June 8 — the first time in more than 100 years.
“So my message is very clear — on the 8th of June vote for strong and stable leadership ... Give me a mandate to lead Britain, give me a mandate to speak for Britain, give me a mandate to fight for Britain and give me a mandate to deliver for Britain,” she told supporters in Bridgend.
“We want to ensure that Britain is a more secure and united nation — that means acting against the extremists who want to divide us but it also means standing up to the separatists who want to break up this precious union of nations.”
It was a clear jibe, not only at Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, which supports Welsh independence, but also the Scottish National Party which has stepped up calls for a new referendum on ending Scotland’s centuries-old union with England.
This renewed independence push resulted from Scotland largely voting against Brexit but now being compelled to follow it as part of the UK.