Germany fears a hard Brexit, as UK moves away from political negotiations

Saturday, May 9th 2020 - 08:40 UTC

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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a newspaper interview on Saturday there was a growing risk of a hard Brexit in the midst of the coronavirus crisis as negotiations between Britain and the European Union so far on the future trade relationship had yielded hardly any progress. Read full article

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Pugol-H
Oh come now Herr Maas, you know very well the EU has moved just as far away from the political declaration, if not further in some areas, than the UK has.

Also the political declaration is not a legally binding agreement it is a statement of intent, an outline for starting future discussions and no more.

Any extension would simply mean the UK having to pay billions more into the EU instead of collecting billions from them in tariffs, on their large trade surplus with the UK.

Nor would an extension make an agreement any more likely, quite the reverse in fact. At the moment both parties are talking past each other on certain issues and that will not change without a deadline.

Furthermore the EU are desperate (more so than before) for the UK to keep paying into their budget for as long as possible and will not rush to any conclusion where both of the possible outcomes (deal or no deal), results in the end of those payments.

What is the point of ending lockdown and returning to the old normal in the single market, which is not currently functioning anyway, then disrupting everything again going to WTO rules?

Better to go straight to the new reality when the disruption involved is a walk in the park compared to clearing up after Covid 19.

Leave the EU to agree the next five year MFF budget and fiscal recovery plan by themselves.
May 09th, 2020 - 02:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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daver01
So yet again, the EU are putting their own interpretation on what has been agreed with the UK, in this case on the 'Politicial Declaraton', with German foreign minister Heikko Maas saying that the UK “is moving further away from our jointly agreed political declaration on key issues in the negotiations.”

Well, and just to remind Herr Maas, all the Polticial Declaration is is a roadmap to the areas that will be discussed in the negotiations on the future UK-EU relationship. It does NOT contain ANY promise, guarantee or any other affirmaton that either the EU or, more specifically, that the UK has or will agree to anything. Therefore, if OUR government wishes to “move away” from anything in the Political Declaration, there is nothing to prevent us from legally doing so.
May 09th, 2020 - 08:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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