The lead item shows the big gaps between the UK and EU which were starkly spelt out by the EU side following the ending of the first phase of the trade talks. This item runs longer than usual because it so clearly shows how difficult it will be to find agreement. And what about a United Kingdom Day?
Also in this issue
- NI business leaders say we face ‘catastrophe’ if government keeps denying truth about border checks
- The level of distrust is demonstrated in EU saying UK wants to undermine Euro unity in talks
- Most UK firms expect uncertain times into 2021
And, finally, in the midst of Brexit/virus gloom two stories to bring a smile:
- -Bojo now wants a tunnel, not a bridge, between NI and Scotland [but Arlene likes it] and
- An arch Brexiteer MP wants a Brexit public holiday called United Kingdom Day
Barnier warns of grave differences between EU and UK in trade talks
Michel Barnier has spoken of grave differences between the EU and the UK over their future relationship, warning that Boris Johnson’s refusal to formally commit to the European convention on human rights would limit cooperation in fighting crime.
Following the first round of negotiations between the two 100-strong teams, the EU’s chief negotiator said there were many “serious divergences” between the two sides.
The problematic areas were said to range from the maintenance of a level playing field for British and European businesses to the role of the European court of justice and conditions on future access for European fishing fleets to British waters.
In response, a UK government spokesman said there were “expected, significant differences” but that the final deal had to respect that the country would be outside the orbit of EU law or its courts.
As he ran through the main obstacles to a deal, Barnier warned that the British position on the role of European courts threatened “the level of ambition of our cooperation” on joint work to fight crime, terrorism and money laundering.
He said the UK had informed him that “they do not wish formally to commit to continuing to apply the European convention on human rights, nor do they wish to permit the European court of justice to play its full role in interpreting EU law”.
Barnier said that on issues such as the exchange of personal data, including DNA, the UK’s formal commitment to the convention on human rights and the recognition in any trade deal of the role of the court of justice as the arbiter of EU law was a “must have”.
The British government has not said it will quit the European convention on human rights but it does not believe the EU should demand obligations in a treaty beyond that agreed by other independent countries.
Boris Johnson’s government also insists that there should not be a role for the European court of justice within any future treaty, while accepting that the court interprets EU law for member states.
“Whilst we agree on preserving high standards, my question is why not commit to them formally? It is a question of trust,” Barnier said.
He added that he had been “quite surprised” to see the UK mandate for negotiations with the US, in which the government is vowing it will not water down standards.
“I was very interested to see that there was this element of the level playing field,” Barnier said. “Of course it’s a different context, different proximity, geographic and economic proximity. But the philosophy … is the same. We will need an agreement on the level playing field to guarantee that that was promised by Boris Johnson and the European leaders in the political declaration [to] avoid any unfair competitive advantages.”
On fishing rights, Barnier said the UK’s proposal to negotiate the level of catches in British waters on an annual basis, similar to an agreement with Norway, was impractical. He noted that the EU and Norway negotiated over five species of fish while there were 100 shared stocks in European and British seas.
Barnier said the British government was further insisting that fisheries should be outside the main trade deal. “An economic agreement with the UK will have to include a balanced agreement on fisheries,” he insisted.
A UK government source described the EU’s negotiating ask as being “the status quo”. “That is not going to happen”, the source added.
The two sides are also at loggerheads on the nature of the agreement they are seeking. The EU wants one over-arching agreement covering everything from trade to transport, fisheries to agricultural standards, underpinned by a common dispute-settlement system.
The UK wants a series of mini-deals that have different arrangements for resolving disputes when needed. Barnier said the EU’s preferred “association agreement” model was “not a matter of ideology” but a “practical question”.
The EU is concerned that having multiple deals will make ratification more difficult with national parliaments seeking a say. Despite the differences, Barnier said he remained confident that a deal was possible by the end of the year. Guardian 5 Mar
UK faces ‘catastrophe if Tories continue with no checks in Irish Sea claim’
The UK will have a “catastrophe” on its hands unless Boris Johnson and cabinet ministers stop repeatedly claiming that there will be no checks in the Irish Sea as part of the special Brexit arrangements, NI manufacturing leaders and local politicians have warned.
“If they don’t there is going to a horrible crash at the end of this year, and if not then in four years,” said Stephen Kelly, the chief executive of the business group Manufacturing Northern Ireland.
Speaking at a debate on Northern Ireland protocol at the Institute for Government thinktank in London on Wednesday, he added: “We are potentially facing some pretty catastrophic outcomes if we don’t get this right.”
Stephen Farry, the MP for North Down and deputy leader of the Alliance party, said it was a fiction to think that a wide-ranging free trade agreement with the EU would wash the checks away.
If Johnson reneged on the deal he would have a “cowboy economy” and a “no man’s land” in which neither British nor EU rules would be enforced, warned Farry.
The conference heard that the software needed to manage the new arrangements would not be ready within 10 months and that Johnson’s apparent “tearing up” of the Northern Ireland arrangements, one month after signing them, would fuel mistrust of Britain when it came to negotiating trade deals around the world. Guardian 4 Mar
EU says UK seeks to undermine its unity at trade talks
The European Union says Britain is trying to weaken the bloc’s position at trade talks by talking to individual member states and has urged EU governments not to hold a “parallel negotiation” with London.
An EU document seen by Reuters said the bloc’s negotiating stance could be undermined if member states talk separately to Britain while a new trade agreement with London is being negotiated following its departure from the Union.
Formal negotiations began in Brussels this week, just over a month after Britain left the EU. The aim is to reach agreement on a new trade relationship by the end of this year.
“We have information that the UK colleagues are approaching us at different levels and trying to engage in issues that are linked to our negotiations,” a senior diplomat from Croatia, which chairs EU meetings in the first half of 2020, told a meeting of Brussels envoys from member states.
Asked to comment, a British government spokesman said: “The UK is clear that it is negotiating its future relationship with the EU with the European Commission, and it is for the European Commission to find common ground among the EU’s member states.”
The EU has long had concerns that Britain will try to divide member states to try to win the upper hand in the negotiations. Reuters 5 Mar
More firms expect Brexit uncertainty to stretch into 2021: Bank of England
More than three-quarters of British firms that took part in a Bank of England survey expect uncertainty about Brexit to last until 2021 at least, the central bank said on Thursday.
“Businesses expect uncertainties around Brexit to take longer to be resolved than in the January survey,” the BoE said as it published the Monthly Decision Maker Panel (DMP) survey of chief financial officers.
“In February, 76% of businesses expected uncertainty to persist until at least 2021. That proportion had risen from 59% in January, continuing a trend seen over recent months.” Reuters 5 Mar
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Boris Johnson now backs tunnel, not bridge to Northern Ireland
Boris Johnson now wants to press ahead with a tunnel to link the British mainland with Northern Ireland rather than a bridge, the Scottish Secretary has announced.
Alister Jack said he and the Prime Minister both favour examining a tunnel from Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway to Larne in the province.
Although he admitted that civil servants have yet to estimate a cost, he said Arlene Foster, the Northern Irish First Minister, was “very enthusiastic” about the plan.
He said the project would be similar in length to the 31.4-mile Channel Tunnel and shorter than much longer tunnels in China.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman last night confirmed that a tunnel crossing was being studied by Government officials as an option for the proposed crossing over the Irish Sea. Daily Telegraph 5 Mar
We could be getting a new Brexit bank holiday called United Kingdom Day
The creation of a ‘United Kingdom Day’ in June cleared its first parliamentary hurdle, but is unlikely to become law if it does not win Government backing.
Pro-Brexit Tory backbencher Peter Bone has led calls for the public holiday in June to celebrate ‘Brexit, the Union and the Queen’. His proposed bank holiday would fall on the Friday nearest to June 23 – the date of the EU referendum in 2016 – and could also mark the Queen’s birthday and coronation anniversary, both of which fall in June.
But the long-time Eurosceptic said Boris Johnson’s Government had been ‘quite sniffy’ about his proposals. He added: ‘This has rather surprised and disappointed me.” Metro 4 Mar https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/
