ANY deluded Brexiteer who thought the European Union’s remaining 27 members would roll over to UK demands got a sharp reminder yesterday that this process involves even bigger countries than Britain.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s European Council summit on Brexit in Brussels, the most powerful woman in the world, German chancellor Angela Merkel, told Germany’s Parliament the Bundestag that some British politicians were labouring under “illusions” about Brexit.
In a strongly worded speech, Merkel laid it on the line that the UK will have to confirm or least clarify the terms of Brexit before any negotiations on, for example, a trade deal, can even start.
Her words were being seen last night as a warning that the UK must agree to pay its so-called “divorce bill” that could be anything up to £50 billion before negotiations can start.
Merkel said: “Countries with a third country status – and that’s what Great Britain will be – cannot and will not have the same or even more rights as a member of the European Union. All 27 member states and the European institutions agree on this.”
She added: “Ladies and gentlemen, you may think that all this is self-evident. But I have to put this so clearly because I get the impression that some in Great Britain still have illusions about this, and that is a waste of time.
“We can only make a deal about Britain’s future relationship to the EU once all questions about the terms of its exit can be clarified to a satisfying degree.
“That means the sooner the British Government is prepared to find constructive solutions, the sooner we can engage with their desire to already talk during the exit negotiations about the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. But first we need to know how Great Britain sees its future relationship with us.”
Merkel also made it clear that she wanted the position of EU nationals living in Britain – about 300,000 Germans live in the UK – and Britons living in the EU to be top of the agenda. She said there would be a “fair offer” to UK nationals resident in Germany.
The EU negotiating team in Brussels confirmed last night that they are ready with a package that will be agreed by all 27 countries as it is a development of the position they already agreed – that means the Spanish position on Gibraltar will be included.
Speaking at a final meeting before the summit of the remaining EU foreign ministers and negotiators in Luxembourg, chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said simply: “We are ready, we are united.”
Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech who chaired the meeting said: “It was an unprecedented signal of trust, unity and consensus of the 27.”
Those remarks echoed that of Merkel earlier in the day: “In terms of substance and organisation, we are very well prepared.”
Even as Merkel got to her feet in the Bundestag, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was being asked in a BBC interview about whether a trade deal would have to wait until the divorce bill was settled. He replied: “We’ll see.”
He added: “If you’re saying that they want the money before they get any substantive talks then that is obviously not going to happen.”
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