Europe split over May’s vision – but even Tusk calls it ‘realistic’
EUROPEAN leaders were divided last night after Theresa May outlined her vision for Brexit, in the first signs of a bruising battle to come.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk described her speech as ‘realistic’, saying it provided much-needed clarity before Article 50 is triggered.
But the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator warned the Prime Minister she could not ‘cherry-pick’ what she wanted.
Guy Verhofstadt accused her of making ‘counter-productive’ threats. He said: ‘Britain has chosen a hard Brexit. May’s clarity is welcome – but the days of UK cherry-picking and Europe a la carte are over. Threatening to turn the UK into a deregulated tax haven will not only hurt British people – it is a counter-productive negotiating tactic.’
Last night, as Mrs May hit the phones to try to reassure German chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders about her plans, the response from elsewhere was more muted.
While Mr Tusk said member states were ‘ready to negotiate’ with Britain, he acknowledged that the robust stance and ‘ aggressive’ tone in Mrs May’s speech – which surprised some EU ambassadors – had sent a wave of dejection through Brussels.
In a downcast online post shortly after the Prime Minister spoke, Mr Tusk admitted he had been saddened by the ‘surreal’ turn of events. Sources said his dispirited reaction came from a belief that ‘things are not what they used to be’ within the EU in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Mrs May had ‘at last created a bit more clarity about the British plans’. ‘She has underlined that Great Britain is seeking a positive and constructive partnership, a friendship, with a strong EU,’ he added.
Sandro Gozi, Italy’s under- secretary for European affairs, said the remaining 27 member states had been reassured by the detailed plan put forward by Mrs May.
He said revealing her objectives before Article 50 is triggered in March, beginning the formal Brexit process, will ensure more peaceful negotiations and stop member states ganging up on the UK.
‘It is now finally clear what they want,’ he said. ‘They want to leave for good and they want a full Brexit. Nobody wants revenge, nobody wants vengeance, we fully respect it as a British sovereign decision and we respect the approach on negotiation.’
Downing Street said Mrs May had also held calls with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and French president Francois Hollande.
A spokesman added that she had emphasised to Mr Tusk and Mr Juncker that the UK was seeking a strong and equal partnership with Brussels, that would work in the interests of both sides.
President Hollande and Mrs Merkel, who will be crucial to the outcome of the eventual negotiations, were told the UK ‘wanted the EU to thrive’. Officials said both had ‘ welcomed Mrs May’s commitment to the continuing strength of the EU’.
But French MEP Alain Lamassoure, of the centre-Right Republican party, said Mrs May’s plans were ‘incomprehensible’ and accused the UK of ‘sinking itself’. ‘It’s a kind of economic and business suicide that makes it hard to understand what is going on over the other side of the Channel,’ he added.
Jan-Philipp Albrecht, a German MEP, also wrote an explicit post on Twitter seemingly mocking Mrs May’s approach, suggesting she had told the EU to ‘ go f*** yourself’. The outspoken politician also
‘It is now finally clear what they want’
claimed that the Prime Minister was ‘daydreaming’ by suggesting the UK would be better off alone.
Meanwhile in a public ‘memo’ to Mrs May on Twitter, the Czech Republic’s Europe minister Tomas Prouza said: ‘Numbers don’t lie. EU citizens do not overburden UK’s social system.’ He also dismissed her plans as too ambitious, adding: ‘Trade as free as possible, full control on immigration ... where is the give for all the take?’
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he was ‘ready to start [talks] as soon as the UK is’, and reinforced his desire for an ‘orderly exit’.
It also emerged that the Prime Minister has been invited to an informal meeting of the other 27 EU leaders next month that she had initially been excluded from.
She will discuss Libya and migration at the summit in Malta, before the remaining leaders hold separate talks on Brexit negotiations.
Antonio Tajani, a close ally of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, was last night elected president of the European Parliament. He takes over from Martin Schulz, a vocal critic of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. While Mr Tajani has yet to explicitly make his views on Brexit clear, his career has seen him rooted at the heart of the European political establishment.
The former journalist, who belongs to Berlusconi’s Right-wing Forza Italia party, served as an MEP for 14 years before becoming a European commissioner in 2008 and starting his second stint in the European Parliament in 2014. While often criticised as nothing but a sounding chamber for MEPs, the parliament could play a decisive role in the UK’s exit from the EU as it will have to approve a final deal.
A report presented to Brussels commissioners yesterday found EU states may be landed with billions of euros in additional bills to make up a budget shortfall after Brexit.
The UK is the second biggest contributor to the Brussels club after Germany, giving an annual net figure of around £8billion. The Jacques Delors Institute think-tank, which receives EU funding and carried out the report, warned that Brussels accountants faced a ‘tough challenge’ to balance the books.