European Union issues hard-line Brexit negotiating strategy
By
Robert Stevens
1 May 2017
The weekend was dominated by acrimonious exchanges between the European Union (EU) and the British government over the upcoming negotiations over its exit from the EU.
On Saturday, the European Council unanimously approved a hardline set of guidelines. The 27-member body reportedly took just one minute to discuss the document and less than 15 minutes to approve it.
The document warns that Britain cannot have separate discussions with individual EU states over the terms of Brexit, “so as not to undercut the position of the Union.”
It declares, “A non-member of the Union that does not live up to the same obligations as a member cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member.”
On this basis, the guidelines make clear that there can be no ‘cherry picking’ by the UK of the “indivisible” four core single market freedoms—the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people. The official position of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May is for a Brexit to preserve access to “elements of a single market,” with accepting, on behalf of big business—at least during the transitional period after the UK exits—the free movement of people.
The EU’s guidelines list three issues of priority: the residency rights of EU and UK citizens post-Brexit, agreeing what the UK must pay to the EU as part of its “divorce” settlement and avoiding the creation of a “hard” border between the Irish Republic—which is an EU member—and Northern Ireland.
Agreement on the EU’s strategy came just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted on a tough line against the UK, insisting that it “cannot and will not have the same…