I watched the first day of the EU UK parliamentary partnership assembly. This was set up by the trade and co-operation agreement and meets every six months. It consists of parliamentarians from the European Parliament and the UK Parliament. The first session was on general issues & trade and the second on defence. I made some notes which follow that structure, and add some comments of my own.
Trade
I think there was some very polite disagreement between NST and šefčovič whose speech was read. I don’t think HMG really understand the EU’s position on the eight UK treaty infractions required to fully meet the withdrawal agreement on citizenship and the Windsor agreement on the NI/Irish customs border.
HMG think they’re making progress I’m not so sure
The MEPs reinforced importance of Erasmus and the youth experience scheme and the need for pace on Erasmus, CBAM (energy) and SAFE (Defence). The UK’s delay seems to be focused on money. It seems that too many have not read the recent communique after the May summit in full.
I comment on the May summit, with articles on my first impressions, where I sum up the meeting as a draw and explaining the basic compromises, second thoughts where I examine the transatlantic dimension of politics as it impacts EU/UK relations and a 3rd piece where I quote a number of press sources critical of the ambition and pace of the UK Government. I classify it as a draw, because,
The EU have ensured the current treaties are confirmed and that any entrance to the single market includes dynamic alignment, CJEU judicial authority and financial contributions, in exchange, the UK have obtained agreement that the Commission will engage in pre-legislative consultation.
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and an all Irish energy market was was raised by an Irish MEP. I note that, the EU is building an energy connection to the Republic, the UK is running out of time for an easy path to get what we need.
The Republic of Ireland seemed overrepresented in the EU delegation. (14% vs 2% of MEPs, there was 1 Ulster Unionist MP on the UK side. This underlines the importance of the Northern Ireland protocol, and the Windsor Framework at least to the EU, and it took an MEP to remind the meeting that NI voted to remain. The size of the Irish contingent in the EU delegation may illustrate the declining importance of the UK relationship to the politics of the other member states,)
Barry Adams MEP (Renew/Eire) called for two parties to stop being transactional to be strategic good advice in my opinion.
Lord David Frost wasted our time.
Stella Creasy MP supported the reset topics and added less paperwork as a demand, but the simplest way to reduce the paperwork is to rejoin the single market as otherwise we seem to be rejoining one agency at a time.
Defence and Security
While everyone thinks that defence is important and cooperation critical, the left wing Irish MP reminded HMG that not all the EU is in NATO. The UK minister’s speech was very much NATO first, EU second. No wonder there’s a dispute on funding which is delaying the closing of a defence agreement.
On the EU side, several MEPs put stakes in the ground, on Northern Ireland and Gibraltar and funding programmes, i.e. Erasmus & Defence with calls for more pace and a strategic approach.
It should be clearly understood that the EU is not going to sign a deal where every line is a UK win, so much for,
“A government spokesman said: “We are not interested in divergence for divergence’s sake, or a race to the bottom in standards. If shared high standards with the EU will cut barriers to trade, we will consider them as long as they’re in our national interest and don’t cross our red lines.”
One problem is that the UK Government is behaving as if it doesn’t really care. There is no strategy and given a choice between rejecting freedom of movement, and better trade and even defence, it’s clear what this government will choose.
The meeting is useful for commentators and observers, in that behind the curtain of impeccable manners except for Lord Frost, there is a disagreement about defence which the government to be their Ace of Trumps; unfortunately, the EU seem to be bidding for a No Trump contract.
The following day the FT reports, Dispute over money threatens EU-UK ‘reset’ talks – https://on.ft.com/3XCgT72 via @FT. Although the article focuses on the defence agreement and the UK’s attempt to raise the potential British gains, the Defence stream was the most concrete of the agreements made in May; if that can’t be closed, then we need to question if anything can be.