Exiting the EU remains the ultimate goal of right-wing parties in Europe, even if they remain silent about it before the elections, said the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in an interview with Euractiv. He warned that the right had not learned any lessons from Brexit.
“Frexits”, “Nexits” and “Grexits” are no longer explicit demands of the EU right, but one should not be deceived, warned Barnier. There was still a lot of simmering in the background, even if they stayed quiet.
“They know Europeans don’t want this, but deep down they have not changed their views and long to turn the EU into a mere international trading union,” he said.
Barnier was the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator for just over four years, from 2016 to 2021, and led the infamous “Taskforce 50.”
Before taking on this role, Barnier served twice as a commissioner and four times as a minister in various French conservative governments. In 2022 he unsuccessfully applied for the conservative presidential candidacy.
He was appointed chief negotiator on the day that then British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the EU, officially starting the country’s exit from the EU.
Barnier accompanied the process until the signing of a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on December 24, 2020.
The former technocrat, once described in Britain as the “most dangerous man in Europe,” repeatedly pointed out during the Brexit negotiations that “the clock is ticking.”
Having seen the impact of Brexit up close, Barnier said it was “predictable”.
With the UK leaving the single market, regulatory friction has returned. Border controls with the EU have slowed imports and exports, skills shortages have increased and growth is sluggish.
“It was a strange deal that was negotiated,” he said. “For the first time in EU trade policy, we have agreed to raise regulatory barriers, not dismantle them.”
EU rights don’t want to learn
“The difficulties facing Britain are not all related to Brexit, but Brexit has made them worse,” said Barnier.
“Global Britain”, the Leave campaign’s promise that leaving the EU would put Britain back on center stage economically and financially – underpinned by a US trade deal that never saw the light of day – was nothing more than a “glorious illusion.” This is how the Frenchman titled his written account of the negotiations.
But today, almost nine years after the referendum, right-wing movements in the EU still want to divide the union, he said.
“They have learned nothing from Brexit,” warned Barnier. He referred to the right-wing Dutch journalist and winner of the November parliamentary elections, Geert Wilders, or the coalition of Giorgia Meloni with the EU skeptic Matteo Salvini.
A few days after the Brexit vote in June 2016, Marine Le Pen, then the National Front’s presidential candidate, celebrated the result of the referendum and Britain’s decision to “leave bondage.”
“She hasn’t changed her views,” Barnier said. They and their EU allies would simply no longer represent them publicly.
In 2017, Le Pen announced that he would emulate the British and hold a referendum on “membership of the EU”. This proposal frightened even their core voters, who feared economic chaos, and was removed from the future election program.
The silence about the desire to leave the EU is nothing more than “election campaign opportunism,” said the former commissioner. “I would recommend not trusting them when they say they no longer want to leave the EU.”
European naivety
But London’s unprecedented exit from the EU has consequences that go beyond Great Britain.
Given the upcoming EU elections, it is high time for the EU to learn its lessons from Brexit. It must address the core of what made the referendum possible in the first place so that something like this never happens again, the former negotiator told Euractiv.
Combating illegal immigration and increasing Frontex staff. The circumvention of free trade agreements based on reciprocity and the “mirror clause” and the development of “credible” defense capabilities. These are examples of what the EU is doing to show that it is no longer as “naive” as it used to be, he said.
Barnier, who is now special adviser to the conservative French party Les Républicains on foreign affairs and manages the party’s relations with the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), wants to ensure that the EU institutions continue their work until the next legislative period. He also wants to “ensure that my political family remains a European family.”
The former commissioner emphasized that decision-making in the EU is far too time-consuming. People would “remember 30 years of excessive bureaucracy every day [und] European naivety.” The EPP’s goal should be to win back these voters before it is too late and they turn to the right, he added.
Furthermore, the EPP should “never, never, never” make a pact with “far-right” parties in the European Parliament, as polls show there is likely to be a shift to the right in June’s elections.
The Conservatives should show “no complacency and no weakness” if they want to reject the “anti-EU theses” of the right.
The United Kingdom is in danger of being sidelined internationally
The UK faces a “real risk of being sidelined in global affairs” due to Brexit, said Lord Peter Ricketts, who chairs the House of Lords European Affairs Committee, in an interview with EURACTIV.
Ready to be useful
The EU must not be complacent either, with the EU-UK trade deal coming up for review in 2025.
“I cannot imagine that this renegotiation will be anything more than technical,” the former negotiator said.
There is no room for larger, political conversations that risk “cherry picking.” This term suggests that Britain could take the good aspects of the single market and leave the bad behind. “I’ll make sure of that,” he said.
As long as the spirit of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement remains intact, bilateral relations could be improved and expanded in some specific policy areas.
For example, Great Britain plays an important role in the field of defense. In recent years it has become more closely aligned with the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). It was also the first state to sign a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine back in January 2024.
Barnier said the EU was “ready” to work more closely with Britain in areas as diverse as cybersecurity, defense measures against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, intelligence and counter-terrorism.
In October 2019, the UK and the EU signed a Political Declaration that was intended to serve as the basis for future relations. This declaration includes an advanced partnership in the areas of security and defense, including cooperation in research and industry.
In parallel, renegotiations of fishing and electricity trading agreements are necessary. “It turned out to be more complex than expected,” says one Message of the Commission of March 2023 on the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Ultimately, Barnier said he doesn’t plan to negotiate during the review, but he still has a lot up his sleeve.
“I have memories and I’m not nostalgic,” he said. “I am always available and ready to be useful.”
[Bearbeitet von Nathalie Weatherald]
2024-02-21 07:14:12
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