You can’t pick the referee, Davis tells EU as he kicks off second round of talks
DAVID DAVIS will tell the European Union this week it cannot “pick the referee” for legal disputes after Brexit as a new round of talks begin.
Despite the hopes of some in his party, the Brexit Secretary is holding a firm line over ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
In recent days, the Government has come under sustained pressure from pro-EU Tory MPs and political opponents to ditch Theresa May’s red line on the ECJ. She believes Britain should not be part of any EU-wide body that uses the court as an arbiter, such as ones that regulate the movement of nuclear material or pharmaceuticals across borders.
Mr Davis has made clear in private he supports the position, indicating that the court is instinctively favourable towards the EU.
“If Manchester United played Real Madrid, you would not let Real pick the referee,” he has said.
Mr Davis will appear in Brussels with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, tomorrow to formally kick off the second round of talks. From then, officials from the UK and EU will take part in a series of “working groups” designed to make progress on the terms of Brexit.
One focuses on what happens to EU citizens after Brexit, another addresses the so-called “Brexit bill” the UK will pay, and a third looks at outstanding issues such as shared regulators. A separate group will look at the Northern Irish border. The most thorny issue is the Brexit bill, with fierce debate playing out either side of the English Channel about what the UK owes as part of its existing EU membership.
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said this week that EU leaders can “go whistle” amid claims the bill could be as high as €100billion (£87.6billion). Mr Barnier said in response: “I’m not hearing any whistling, just the clock ticking.” When it comes to EU citizens, the involvement of the ECJ remains a key sticking point. The UK does not want the court resolving disputes about EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, but Brussels is insisting exactly that.
Sources familiar with the process said that from tomorrow until Wednesday, civil servants will endeavour to find common ground and identify areas of outright contradiction.
Mr Davis will then return to Brussels on Thursday, when it is hoped more political talks will find solutions that both sides can agree on.
A round of talks will take place every month throughout the summer, until October, when it is hoped the terms of Britain’s exit will have been agreed. Then it will be on to a negotiation about the future terms of trade. It is hoped a deal can be mapped out by summer 2018, with time to be ratified by the European Parliament and UK Parliament by March 2019 – the date of Brexit.
A Whitehall source said: “We have listened to the Commission’s arguments. We feel that it is now time to roll up our sleeves and for both sides to demonstrate that we’re willing to tackle difficult, essential issues. That’s the message that we will make loud and clear this week.”