PARIS – The louder the Brexit rhetoric grows at home, the more united European partners become in resisting political or economic concessions to Britain. That was the main lesson of last week’s Conservative Party conference and the reaction to it across continental Europe.
From Berlin to Paris and Brussels to the Hague, Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement of a March 2017 deadline for triggering the EU’s divorce clause, coupled with vows to restore British sovereignty over lawmaking and the judiciary, elicited a mixture of yawns, rejection of any pre-negotiations and firm reminders of the EU rules.
May’s strong indication that Britain would leave the European single market and customs union when it exits the EU in spring 2019 prompted continental leaders to rally together and harden their own stance in return.
Chancellor Angela Merkel chose the German employers’ conference to issue a warning that there would be no prior negotiations, and no splitting of the EU’s four freedoms of movement of capital, goods, services and persons. She urged the bosses to stand behind Berlin’s defence of the integrity of single market rules.
In France, President Francois Hollande said Britain had made its choice and must pay the price for leaving the EU and its single market, to deter potential emulators from seeking special membership terms for themselves. Diplomats say there is agreement between Paris and Berlin on hanging tough and not being drawn into exploratory talks that would enable London to test reaction to its demands, and probe for opportunities to play EU countries off against each other, before it triggers Article 50 of the EU treaty to begin two years of exit negotiations.
A German diplomat explained that Merkel’s priority is to hold the remaining 27 countries together and strengthen EU cohesion. This was more important than reaching a favorable trade deal with the UK, which would take many more years and might require a salutary economic shock to make the British more realistic.
“We are still waiting for them to say what they want, and we know that whatever Mr Fox or Mr Davis may say, it’s 10 Downing Street that decides,” the German official said. “But if the British position is really what Mrs May described at the party conference, then it will be very difficult.”
EU officials say the conditions for any interim agreement allowing a smooth transition period from Brexit to a future free trade agreement, without the immediate imposition of tariffs and loss of market access for UK-based financial services, were the same as for staying in the single market.
That means continuing to abide by EU laws and technical standards after Brexit, including rulings of the European Court of Justice; making payments into the EU budget for market access, as Norway and Switzerland do; and allowing full freedom of movement.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s talk of making companies register and report foreign workers, since disavowed by other ministers following criticism from business, stirred outrage on the continent, where commentators compared it with French far-right populist Marine Le Pen’s discriminatory policy of “national preference”.
The Dutch are traditionally among Britain’s closest EU allies, but they too have strong domestic grounds to take a firm line with London. “When we hear this sort of talk, we hear Geert Wilders,” a Dutch diplomat said of the anti-immigration leader whose Freedom Party is vying with Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberals for power in elections next March. “Any exception for Britain that could be exploited by Wilders is a non-starter,” the diplomat said.
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Edited by Hugo Dixon
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