Boris Johnson launched a furious attack on the EU’s double-standards today after the European ministers set out a laundry list of demands for agreeing a trade deal.
Downing Street accused Brussels of trying to impose far tougher conditions on the UK than were offered to Canada or the US.
The mandate handed to Michel Barnier by European ministers says Britain must follow a swathe of EU rules and accept legal oversight by the bloc’s judges, as well as making concessions on fishing rights and the Elgin Marbles.
In a brazen effort to increase the pressure on the UK, the document also includes a brazen effort to thwart Mr Johnson’s drive for a Transatlantic trade deal. It says Britain must meet the EUs ‘health and product sanitary quality in the food and agricultural sector’ – which would deprive Mr Johnson of a key bargaining chip in talks with Donald Trump.
However, in a stinging rebuttal tonight, No10 dismissed the demands saying it will not compromise on the UK’s ‘legal autonomy’.
‘The EU has respected the autonomy of other major economies around the world such as Canada and Japan when signing trade deals with them. We just want the same,’ Downing Street tweeted.
‘We agree the UK’s trade with the EU is significant. The US’s is on the same scale – yet that did not stop the EU being willing to offer the US zero tariffs without the kind of level playing field commitments or the legal oversight they have put in today’s mandate.’
At a press conference in the Belgian capital, Mr Barnier declared he was ‘ready’ for what would be ‘very difficult’ negotiations.
He said there must be guarantees of ‘fair’ competition between the two sides – and flatly rejected the idea of a Canada-style deal, saying it was thousands of miles away.
In a dig at the UK government, Mr Barnier said it was Britain imposing ‘time pressures’ and he would not engage in ‘polemic’.
‘I don’t have time to waste with that,’ he said.
Earlier, the PM met his senior team to finalise British tactics for the looming talks. The inner Brexit ‘war Cabinet’ approved the blueprint ‘based on other existing FTAs between the EU and other like minded sovereign nations’.
Mr Johnson has made clear that under no circumstances will he extend the ‘standstill’ transition period beyond the end of December – even if no agreement has been reached by that point.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock ratcheted up tensions this morning by accusing the EU of making ‘extraneous suggestions’ about what should be included in a deal.
Swiping at infighting among member states, he told Sky News: ‘Our side is absolutely clear what we want to achieve.’
Michel Barnier warned that the negotiations would be ‘very difficult’ as he confirmed his mandate had been approved by the EU today
Boris Johnson (pictured with Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Downing Street today) gathered his Cabinet to sign off Brexit trade deal plans
In a stinging rebuttal tonight, No10 dismissed the EU demands saying it will not compromise on the UK’s ‘legal autonomy’
Vincenzo Amendola (left) and Amelie de Montchalin (right), ministers from Italy and France respectively, were among those meeting in Brussels today
Attorney General Suella Braverman (left) and Transport Secretary Grant Shappps were at Cabinet today
A Whitehall source said: ‘We have to have taken back control by January 1. We are being very clear about that so that there is no misunderstanding.’
Brussels’ mandate for negotiator Michel Barnier was formally unveiled this afternoon.
It calls for rules on fishing rights to continue unchanged after the transition ends.
The document says ‘the provisions on fisheries should uphold existing reciprocal access conditions, quota shares and the traditional activity of the Union fleet’.
The bloc also wants to block any reduction in ‘common standards’ that currently exist on the environment, and a reference to food quality has been added since the previously leaked drafts.
Rules would need to be maintained in the area of ‘health and product sanitary quality in the agricultural and food sector’ – a clear jibe at the UK’s hopes of a US trade deal.
Making clear the EU will push for tough ‘level playing field’ provisions – another thing the UK has rejected – the document said: ‘Given the union and the United Kingdom’s geographic proximity and economic interdependence, the envisaged partnership must ensure open and fair competition, encompassing robust commitments to ensure a level playing field.’
The mandate also features a thinly-veiled reference to the dispute over the Elgin Marbles, which Greece has long said should be returned.
‘The parties should, consistently with Union rules, address issues relating to the return or restitution of unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin,’ it said.
Mr Barnier insisted that there must be ‘robust level playing field safeguards’ to avoid ‘unfair competitive advantages’ in social, environmental, tax and state aid matters.
He said that every trade deal the EU has done around the world has a ‘level playing field element to it’.
‘The UK will be the EU’s third largest trading partner – almost 10 times bigger than Canada – at the same time Canada is some 5,000km away.
‘It’s clear that the rules cannot be the same: it’s logical, it’s simple. This is not new, there is no surprise.’
Mr Barnier said a free trade deal with the UK had to include fishing rights ‘or there won’t be any agreement at all’.
‘Let me remind you that most of the British processed fisheries products are traded, are exported, are sent to us, to the European market,’ he said.
FACT BOX TITLE
NFU president Minette Batters
Signing trade deals that open the UK to imported food that would be illegal to produce here would be ‘morally bankrupt’ and ‘insane’, farming leaders have warned.
National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters said the challenges of climate change, tackling wildlife declines and ensuring animal welfare would not be met by a model that ‘ignores the hidden cost’ of how food is produced.
She urged the Government to insist that countries who want to trade with the UK do so ‘on our terms’ when it comes to food standards.
Downing Street insisted that the UK’s high food standards would be protected in any trade deal.
‘To sign up to a trade deal which results in opening our ports, shelves and fridges to food which would be illegal to produce here would not only be morally bankrupt, it would be the work of the insane,’ Ms Batters said.
At the NFU’s annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, she reiterated a warning that imported food should not be allowed to undercut the standards UK farmers have to meet on animal welfare, food safety and the environment.
Producers in other parts of the world wash livestock in chlorine or other chemicals, use antibiotics to promote growth, are allowed to use battery cages for egg-laying hens and do not need vets’ prescriptions for drugs, she said.
‘So fisheries is part of a package as regards our trade relations, which are to be discussed, and that package is one you can’t break up. There will be no ambiguity at all around that.
‘The trade agreement will be associated with a fisheries agreement and an agreement about a level playing field or there won’t be any agreement at all.’
Earlier, France’s Amelie de Montchalin told reporters: ‘We have to first seek a good agreement before giving into timetable pressure.
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said: ‘The time pressure is immense and the interests are huge.
‘It’s a very complicated treaty. It will be very hard work, a tough road ahead.’
In Westminster, the Brexit inner Cabinet discussed the UK’s stance after the weekly gathering of the full slate of ministers.
The final document is due to be published online and presented in Parliament on Thursday.
Ministers are thought to have commited to seeking a Canada-style agreement with zero tariffs, a proposal Mr Johnson and his EU envoy David Frost have set out in speeches in recent weeks.
But the push for a Canada-style deal could set up a clash with the EU after Mr Barnier ruled out such an agreement.
Mr Barnier has previously said the UK is geographically too close to be permitted to compete with the other 27 member states on such terms.
The British government will seek to up the pressure on Brussels next week by publishing its mandate for trade talks with the US – which are happening in parallel.
The two sides are racing against the clock after Mr Johnson insisted the end of the transition period on December 31 is a hard deadline.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said yesterday: ‘The UK’s primary objective in the negotiations is to ensure that we restore our economic and political independence on January 1 2021.’
Mr Frost and his team will head to Brussels for the first round of negotiations on March 2.
However, the next round will happen in London later next month.
One of the flash points will be fishing, with leading member states speaking regularly about wanting continued access to UK waters.
Mr Johnson used a speech in Greenwich earlier this month to announce, once free of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, that ‘British fishing grounds are first and foremost for British boats’.
Robert Buckland and Anne-Marie Trevelyan were among the ministers at Cabinet today
No10 chief Dominic Cummings was in Westminster today as the government hammers out its trade demands
Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liz Truss were in Downing Street today
But French minister for Europe Amelie de Montchalin said yesterday: ‘The fishermen have the right to be protected, they know very well that if we sign a bad deal they will lose enormously.’
A leaked draft of the EU negotiation mandate last week also included a stipulation Britain should ‘return unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin’.
The passage is thought to refer to the Elgin Marbles, ancient Greek sculptures taken to Britain more than 200 years ago and now on display in the British Museum.
Greece has been vocal about demanding the marble sculptures, once situated in the ancient Greek Parthenon temple, are returned to Athens.
Downing Street has insisted the future of the marbles is ‘not up for discussion as part of our trade negotiations’.
The PM is expected to meet with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in No 10 this afternoon as part of his diplomatic efforts with EU leaders before talks commence.
Yesterday Mr Johnson discussed the negotiations with Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Downing Street said the PM highlighted the UK was ‘not seeking a special or bespoke agreement, but rather one like those the EU has already struck with other friendly countries like Canada’.
The No10 spokesman added: ‘He emphasised that the UK will not extend the transition period or accept any arrangements which subordinate us to EU rules.’