schema:articleBody
| - Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday urged London to meet what he sees as its promise to compete fairly with Europe as both sides gird for a tough talks on a post-Brexit relationship. In the upcoming trade discussions, Europe's top concern is that Britain, which has just split with the EU, will choose to deregulate certain strategic sectors of its economy to gain an advantage over its neighbours. "We heard (British Prime Minister Boris Johnson) last Monday explain that he wanted a free trade agreement with the European Union while reserving for the British the right to diverge from European rules on competition, state aid, social protection or the environment," Barnier said after a meeting in Luxembourg with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. "We respect (...) the British desire to reappropriate their rules, standards and laws: it is a sovereign choice. But we must be clear: the political declaration, which was agreed word for word, line for line, with Boris Johnson last October, remains and will remain the foundation of all negotiations," he added. Barnier was referring to the joint political declaration, a wish list for the future that was agreed alongside the EU-UK divorce deal, but is not legally binding. London and Brussels will have to negotiate "strong guarantees to ensure fair competition and high common standards," Barnier added in his first comments since Johnson laid down his red lines for the upcoming talks. He also underlined that contrary to Johnson's wishes, Brussels intends to give the EU Court of Justice, the bloc's supreme court, a role in interpreting European law in the future relationship. "It is on this basis and only on this basis that we are ready to negotiate", the former French minister warned. "In a time that is necessarily constrained, if we want to move forward, we must avoid taking two or three steps backwards at the outset." Since leaving the EU on January 31, the UK has entered a transition period until December 31, during which it will continue to apply European standards. It is during this period that the future relationship will have to be negotiated with formal discussions only expected to start in early March. cak-zap-arp/dc/wai
|