IMPACT LEGAL FIGHT FAILS
solved.
“That is not the wish of the UK Government.”
Meanwhile, Mr Le Maire was in London for talks with Chancellor Philip Hammond who will set out the Government’s plans for the financial services sector today.
In her Mansion House speech on Friday, the Prime Minister set out her plans for Britain and the EU to access each other’s financial markets based on a commitment to maintaining the same “regulatory outcomes”.
Mr Le Maire said the particular circumstances of the financial services industry meant it could not be covered within the scope of a freetrade agreement and the “best solution” would be for equivalence, where both sides recognise each other’s standards.
“We need a good deal. But once again we have to avoid any misunderstanding between the British people and the French people, between the UK and the EU,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Financial services cannot be in a free-trade agreement, for many reasons, for reasons of stability, for the sake of supervision because there are some very specific rules for financial services.
“So financial services cannot be in a free-trade agreement, but we have an alternative system which is called the equivalence regime.”
The Prime Minister wants trade to be “as frictionless as possible” and has said the UK does now want any tariffs or quotas to be introduced.
Mr Le Maire said: “Our objective for that new framework should be as little friction as possible between the UK and the EU and the lowest-possible tariffs for the UK, because we have to keep in mind that the UK is a very important trade partner for France and the EU.”
In Brussels, the DUP underlined its opposition to the EU’s “fallback” position on the Irish border, which would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market if no other solution could be found, in talks with the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said: “There are sensible solutions to the border question. Greater flexibility needs to be shown by Brussels.”
Mr Barnier, who also held talks with Sinn Fein on Monday, said the EU was looking for “practical solutions” to the border issue and upholding the Good Friday Agreement.