a Glove of silk and speech of iron. The president of the European Commission, and Ursula von der Leyen, has come this Wednesday to London to begin a new phase. The Brexit, has said, it is no longer a uncertainty, but a reality. Now to work on the construction of a new political relationship is very complex, that will not be ready for, as he says Boris Johnson, if you don’t extend the deadlines, and the transition period ends on the next December 31. “The greater our differences, the more distant will be our relationship,” he warned.
it was Not the beginning of the negotiations. Rather, it is a courtesy visit to the Uk to showcase the new cards on the table. For that reason, much more important than his meeting with prime minister Johnson in Downing Street, was the speech prior to Von der Leyen delivered at the London School of Economics (LSE), the university institution where the German leader is happened one of the times more entertaining and enriching of his youth, according to a confession of its own. “When the sun comes out on February 1 [the United Kingdom will abandon officially the EU next January 31] the EU and the Uk will remain the best of friends and partners. The ties that bind us will continue to be unbreakable,” he assured.
The elections of last December 12, which gave a most incontestable Johnson, zanjaron also is any doubt about the exit of the country of the European Union. It opens a period more complex, but less politically tense. Since just about define the degree of separation that London and Brussels are willing to negotiate. “The more divergence there is in our positions, the more distant will be our relationship. And without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, we cannot expect that there is an agreement in every aspect of this new relationship,” he warned. Johnson joined the law that develops the disengagement agreement, approved on first reading by the new parliamentary majority conservative before Christmas, the express prohibition to extend the period of transitional negotiations beyond 31 December 2020, while Brussels and London would have extensions of up to two years for this eventuality.
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The leader, tory wanted to as well settle the doubts of those eurosceptics who gave their support to become prime minister. “You will not be forced to set priorities. And the objectives of the European Union in these negotiations are very clear. We will work on those solutions that defend the integrity of the EU, its internal market and its customs union. There can be No transfers in this aspect”, said the president of the Commission.
No one has posted as an official policy, but there exists the general conviction that, as pointed out by Von der Leyen, if you want to avoid the Uk release all ballast with the EU, and to abide simply by the rules of the World Trade Organization (the Brexit hard yearned for by eurosceptics), the negotiations should have phases and objectives and sectors will have to be clearly set out. So it was suggested by the former Economy minister, Philip Hammond, to THE COUNTRY in an interview last December.
The will of Brussels, expressed yesterday by Von der Leyen, consists in continually remind London what waiver of change of its alleged “economic sovereignty”. “Without the freedom of movement of people, you can’t have freedom of movement of capital, goods and services. Without rules of the game are comparable in terms of environmental, labor, fiscal, or state aid, you can’t expect to access higher quality to the largest home market in the world,” said the community leader.
Next to the suit, Von der Leyen has shown the carrot. “We are prepared to design a new relationship, in that there are no tariffs, quotas or competitive disadvantages. A relationship that goes beyond the trade area, and whose scope does not have precedent,” he assured in a speech in which he wished to remember in London that these three years of estrangement and friction have had the pleasant consequence of reaffirming the conviction and the faith in the unity of Europe. “What is certain is that the Brexit has served to highlight the value of staying together today in an increasingly unstable world. It has reinforced our collective belief that together we can do more because, individually, the nations of Europe have become smaller and less influential in the world”, he said.
Johnson and Von der Leyen, who shared school years in Brussels at the European School, have been deployed in their first encounter a whole panoply of friendly gestures, anecdotes and common will of a thaw in the personal relationships, but a few tracks still on your true desire flexibility in negotiations about to begin.
