Brussels on Wednesday rejected UK allegations of hypocrisy in its approach to trade talks, alleging instead that Britain was reneging on prior commitments, as the atmosphere soured ahead of the start of negotiations.
The European Commission responded to British complaints that it is being denied a standard trade deal by warning the UK it could not “expect high-quality access to the single market if it is not prepared to accept the guarantees the EU requires to ensure that competition remains open and fair”.
The row centres on EU demands that Britain sign up to a “level playing field” of common standards in areas such as environmental law, labour policy and state aid. Britain has complained that the requirements go far beyond what is contained in agreements the bloc has with other countries such as Canada; the EU insists that the cases cannot be compared.
EU officials were also concerned that the UK appeared to be backing away from a political declaration on future relations it agreed as part of Boris Johnson’s Brexit divorce deal with the bloc, agreed last October. The declaration stressed the need for a level playing field.
Stefaan De Rynck, a senior adviser to EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, said in a speech in London on Wednesday that there were concerns Britain was failing to honour the “level of ambition” agreed last year.
© EU Commission
The latest interventions come as both sides prepare for the formal start of trade talks next month, with the EU set to finalise its negotiating mandate next week. EU ambassadors were once again unable to reach a deal on the text at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, in part because France wants a further toughening of the bloc’s demands on a level playing field.
The EU now hopes that ambassadors can complete their work on the text at a meeting on Monday, paving the way for European affairs ministers to sign it off the following day.
“We are clear we are not asking for a special, bespoke or unique deal,” said a UK spokesperson. “We want a Canada-style free trade agreement, which the EU has frequently said is on offer.”
The claims and counterclaims reflect the starkly different positions that each side is taking on their future relationship. Britain is emphasising its desire for a standard free trade agreement and the importance of wrenching itself free from EU rules, while the EU has entrenched its opposition to anything that might lead, in its view, to businesses in the bloc being unfairly undercut by the UK.
As the war of words escalated each side used social media to highlight different EU commission PowerPoint slides that they said backed up their position. Downing Street turned to a 2017 slide (above) showing that Britain could choose the option of a Canada-style free-trade deal after Brexit, while Brussels published a new one showing that its economic relationship with the UK was of a different order of magnitude.
© EU Commission
In an accompanying note with the slide (above), the EU commission noted that “every trade deal we do around the world has a level playing field element to it,” and that “each agreement with a third country depends on a number of different factors, including distance, and the level and intensity of trade.”
Speaking at the London School of Economics, Mr De Rynck said: “It’s clear that for us it’s a different ball game that we are playing with the UK to the one that we agreed with Canada in terms of the level playing field.
“Some in the UK now seem to want to become Canadians,” he added. “But Dover is much closer to Calais than Ottawa is.”
EU diplomats also complain that Britain’s repeated claim that it is seeking a “Canada-style” trade deal belies the fact that the UK wants market access that is much more extensive, including tariff-free, quota-free trade on all products — even for sensitive parts of the agriculture sector such as beef and dairy. The EU’s trade deal with Canada does not fully eliminate tariff and quota restrictions on some goods.
“There are arrangements for fair and open free-trade deals that are proven to work, there is no reason that our proximity to the EU should mean extra restrictions on trade,” said the UK spokesperson.
UK officials also seized on a letter that EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan wrote to the Dutch government this month encouraging the country’s parliament to ratify the Canada trade deal.
Mr Hogan provides assurances in the letter, dated February 11, that the level playing field requirements in the agreement — known as CETA — were “solid”.
The deal’s provisions on environmental and labour standards “are legally binding and enforceable through a dedicated dispute settlement mechanism”, Mr Hogan wrote.
His letter also recognises that there are no “monetary or trade sanctions” to enforce the level playing field, saying that “experience shows that sanctions are not proven to be the most effective instrument to address breaches of sustainable development provisions”.
EU officials reiterated that the trading relationship with the UK was far larger than with Canada, creating a different context.
Source: Economy - ft.com
