By Daniel Bräuer
Heidelberg. The Greens MP Franziska Brantner (41) is the European policy spokeswoman for her parliamentary group.
Ms. Brantner, has the Brexit dispute come a little closer to a solution since October?
We got a little bit further because of the US elections. Joe Biden has made it clear to Boris Johnson that he will not support Britain endangering the peace on the island of Ireland, nor has he promised any special trade relations to do so. That is the fundamental change in content since then. Otherwise, Johnson remains stuck in the dilemma that to this day the British government does not really know what the step after the exit is.
So the election of Biden didn’t really change Johnson’s attitude either?
His hope of first signing an agreement with the US and then seeing what happens to the EU has been weakened. That makes a difference in the negotiations, but it doesn’t change the basic problem: What do the British actually want after the transition period?
The House of Commons has just rewritten the most controversial passages in the British Internal Market Act that the House of Lords had deleted. No sign of willingness to compromise …
No, it’s no problem and a provocation. The member states and the EU Parliament cannot actually approve a new treaty on this basis.
Now Johnson is coming to Brussels personally. Would he do that if he wasn’t still hoping for an agreement?
Or he wants to make sure that he can pass the buck on the EU. You never really know with him.
Do you still see any room for negotiation for an agreement?
The European Union has come extremely far towards the British. People have already moved away from the fact that European rules must apply to questions of competition and state aid. That is a very generous offer for the British to have full access to the market. In fact, the harmonization of future social or consumer and tax laws has been taken off the table. The EU has already given up central positions in many areas. The leeway is therefore extremely small.
Has she come too far towards the British?
The Commission has so far tried to negotiate that unilateral sanctions are possible if the British do not adhere to them. But that is still not accepted. So if we have no way of enforcing existing rules at all, then I would say: gone a step too far.
Cynically speaking: Better not to have a contract with this partner?
In any case, we must not enter into a bad agreement now under the pressure that endangers the internal market and our companies and binds us for years. It doesn’t all have to be ready by January 1st. There is a withdrawal agreement, for Northern Ireland a regulation and for the citizens who live in the UK or with us as well. Some of the things that were very worrisome a year ago have been settled. One can negotiate further with a view to the rest. And at the same time, we now have to prepare which tariffs and quotas there will be without agreement from January 1st. It’s not nice, but it’s better than a bad deal.
But many companies that depend on functioning supply chains do not have this time.
That is why I urge the Commission and the German government to make preparations for Plan B more clearly and thus give companies security. It is really high time. You can’t wait until the day before Christmas with that. The Commission has to say: “We tried it, and we are ready to continue negotiating. But from January 1st the following rules will apply …”
At the end of the week, the next EU summit is due, which shouldn’t have dealt with Brexit for a long time …
Actually it was set for the climate! This must not be forgotten. The federal government said: We will do that in December, if we have time. Right from the start, we thought it was a mistake to put climate protection on the back burner. It is tragic that this is now in danger of falling behind, although we would have to state the new EU climate targets within the framework of the Paris Agreement by the end of the year.
Now there is also the budget dispute …
On Monday it was said from Brussels that Poland and Hungary would have to state whether they want to maintain their veto. With a further veto, you would advance a Plan B by the twenty-fifth. It is right to show that if Poland and Hungary are not interested in billions in aid, then they do not have to take them either. Nobody is forcing Hungary and Poland to take German tax money. We have to communicate with all clarity: we cannot be blackmailed and solidarity and the rule of law belong together. I hope that this clarity will finally come from Chancellor Merkel.
Poland has proposed applying the rule of law mechanism only to the use of EU funds. It wasn’t something the EU could ever have accepted, was it?
It was at least a sign from the Polish government that they were ready to look for common paths. That was a positive signal. The toughest player is Mr. Orban – still a party friend of Ms. Merkel. It is absurd that his Fidesz party is still part of the conservative party family EPP. Fidesz MPs refer to their own parliamentary group leader as Gestapo or donkey without consequences.
The idea of outsourcing the Corona Reconstruction Pact from the regular budget: How would that work exactly?
There is a rule in the EU, if no new budget is adopted, that monthly expenditures amounting to a maximum of one twelfth of the appropriations made available in the budget of the previous year are made. This means that not all EU programs will continue, but those without a time limit. It’s complicated, but not everyone is immediately left out on dry land. And the aid fund, which is urgently needed, could be launched as an intensified cooperation between the 25. Then Hungary and Poland would not get a cent from the stimulus package.
How long does it take?
That will definitely take a few more weeks. But it is better than negotiating with Orban and Kaczynski for a long time and being left with nothing in March.
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