Eu

The glaring difference between the EU and British negotiating goals has been brought into plain sight. In readiness for the upcoming Barnier-Frost negotiations, the French senate produced for the French government a set of requirements that Michel Barnier should work to in the negotiations. Those recommendations, which it published on 6 March, are extremely hardline. If Britain were to accept even a few of the key objectives, it could undermine Brexit. Given president Macron’s power in the European Council it is safe to say that most, if not all, of the recommendations will figure prominently in Barnier’s negotiating file. Frost will have to be on his guard to resist them when talks

On Monday, the Department for International Trade released its negotiating objectives for a UK-USA free trade agreement. The 184-page document explains in detail what the UK wants to get out of a trade deal with America. The British government will try to angle the talks, which begin this month, towards securing a comprehensive arrangement – that is, a deal that covers a broad range of areas including digital, finance, tech, manufacturing and agriculture. If secured, it estimates this could translate into a £3.4 billion boost to the UK economy. The government has put its ‘leveling up’ agenda at front and centre of these trade talks, laying out how each region potentially stands

Sadiq Khan has ventured to Brussels today to meet with European Union negotiators. London’s mayor has a plan to convince EU officials to offer Brits ‘associate citizenship’ after the Brexit implementation period ends this year. The citizenship would grant Brits continued access to freedom of movement and residency within the EU, along with a possible host of other rights linked to healthcare, welfare and voting in European Parliamentary elections. The bid, Khan says, is for ‘heartbroken’ Londoners and others. Of course, Khan is extremely unlikely to be successful. Although London’s mayor wants associate citizenship to be high up on the negotiating agenda when it comes the ‘future relationship’, it’s probably

What are the UK’s red lines in the upcoming trade talks with the EU? Although Boris Johnson has said publicly that he will pursue a Canada-style trade deal and move to an Australia-style deal should that fail, there’s concern on the British side that Brussels is yet to take Johnson at his word when he says divergence is a crucial aspect of any deal. On Monday evening, the Prime Minister’s Europe Advisor and Chief Negotiator David Frost attempted to fix this with a lecture to students and academics at the Université libre de Bruxelles. Frost  used the address to try to explain what type of new relationship the UK is seeking to

Oh dear. Nothing seems to be going right for the SNP these days. Not only has Nicola Sturgeon lost her finance secretary after he sent inappropriate texts to a teenage boy, but her party is now facing a police investigation in Belgium. The naughty Nats appear to have caused a diplomatic incident after they decided to project a message onto the side of the European Commission building on Brexit night. Sturgeon then tweeted out a picture of the stunt, appearing to suggest that the EU had colluded with the performance by hinting that they had ‘left a light on’ for Scotland. Certainly, that suggestion was enough to confuse one of

Watch Nathalie Loiseau, Emmanuel Macron’s Europe sherpa, simultaneously mislead and patronise Andrew Neil on his show last night. I assumed Neil would chew her up and spit her out. But on the night, it was even more bizarre: Asked by Neil if it was the time to take a hard line on Brexit negotiations, when Europe’s economy is already fragile after continuing labour unrest, Loiseau opted for brazen contempt for reality seasoned with special arrogance sauce. This is well known to those used to dealing with the high echelons of the French state. There are no more strikes in France, she declared, adding for good measure she was ‘surprised’ a journalist

Since Boris gained his 80-strong majority in the Commons, a chasm has opened up between what the French reckoned they would be able to extract from Britain in the post-Brexit EU negotiations and what Emmanuel Macron will now prioritise. A number of other events have also chastened the French (and Brussels) beyond the election result, such as: Boris’s decision to legislate for no extension to the transition period; the Government’s rejection of Lord’s amendments to the Withdrawal bill; the Chancellor’s message that the nation’s interests come before British business; Washington’s commitment to seal a trade deal with Britain by the end of the year; and London’s decision to begin parallel

Michel Barnier’s press conference this morning and Boris Johnson’s speech served as reminders as to how far apart on a trade deal the EU and the UK currently are. The EU view is that any tariff free, quota free trade deal must include ‘robust commitments to ensure a level playing field’. The EU seems to be implying that it wants more than just non-regression on this front. But the UK negotiating position, as set out in a written ministerial statement, is that the trade deal cannot include ‘any regulatory alignment, any jurisdiction for the CJEU over the UK’s laws, or any supranational control in any area’. These two positions are

Donald Tusk – ‘One year is enough’ to complete trade deal Andrew Marr spoke to the former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. Boris Johnson’s critics have heaped scorn upon the idea that the UK and the EU can reach a comprehensive free trade agreement without extending the current Brexit transition period past the end of 2020. Tusk however, begged to differ on this: DT: One year is enough to finalise our negotiations… We have to demonstrate good will on both sides… Business is business… The campaign is also over. The game is over. The EU was either ‘bogeyman’ or ‘whipping boy’ Tusk lamented how he felt the EU

Britain is no longer a member of the EU. Attention now shifts to what kind of trade agreement the EU and the UK are going to come to. I say in The Sun this morning, that the two sides are currently far apart—as we’ll see when the two sides set out their positions on Monday—and the negotiations are heading for a mighty smash. The UK thinks that the EU doesn’t realise how much has changed over the last few months. They fear that the EU has not clocked that this will be a very different negotiation because Boris Johnson has a majority in parliament and wants a free trade deal,

Last Friday marked the signing of the Withdrawal Agreement. I know that some people in our country are still a bit upset. But what happened last week matters. We all know that we’ve just had three and a half difficult years. But we had them together – we shared them. Three and a half years of parliament being gloriously frustrating, entertaining and overall a bit odd. Three and a half years of our courts and our beloved institutions forcing us to try very hard to recall why we love them. Three and a half years of democracy. After these three and a half years, our parliament, the body of 650