The British government will not accept that the European Union impose certain rules on the environment, labor law or state aid in its future relationship with the continent, warned the British Brexit negotiator on Monday , David Frost.
“It is essential for us to be able to establish laws that suit us, to claim the right that any other non-EU country has in the world,” said Frost during a speech at the Free University. of Brussels (ULB).
“This is not a simple negotiating position that could change under pressure. It is the very objective of the whole project,” insisted the negotiator from the United Kingdom, who entered since his leaving the EU on December 31 in a transitional period until the end of the year.
Mr. Frost’s eagerly awaited speech comes at a time when EU member states are drawing up a mandate for their own negotiator, Michel Barnier, setting their objectives and their red lines in the negotiations.
Europeans want the United Kingdom to commit to the future relationship to respect the same rules as the EU, or even to adapt “over time” in several areas (environment, competition, taxation, labor law …) in order to avoid distortions of competition, in exchange for privileged access to the European market.
These guarantees seem essential to Europeans given the geographic and economic proximity of the United Kingdom.
The EU would also like the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to keep the last word to interpret Union law in the event of a dispute between London and Brussels.
“To think that we could accept EU supervision over so-called” level playing field “is not to understand the value of what we do”, a commented Mr. Frost.
“How would you react if the United Kingdom demanded that, in order to protect itself, the EU should harmonize dynamically with our national laws decided in Westminster and the decisions of our own regulators and courts?” interrogates.
Frost recalled that London hoped to conclude a free trade agreement similar to those recently negotiated by the EU with Canada or Japan.
“In short, all we want is for the benefit of other independent countries,” he said.
“If it is therefore true, as our friends in the Commission and the 27 have told us, that the EU wants a lasting and viable relationship (…), the only way to progress is to rely on this approach of a relationship of equals “, he concluded.
Negotiations between London and Brussels are expected to start in early March and be completed by the end of the year.
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