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BRUSSELS – British Prime Minister Theresa May, arrived Wednesday night in Brussels in the hope of improving her chances of getting approval for her plan to withdraw from the European Union by the Parliament, discovers once again that the domestic politics of the other countries of the bloc is also.
His meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, aimed to put forward the British point of view on the last outstanding point: a non-binding political declaration, laying down the principles of the relations between Great Britain and France. 39 European Union after departure, a process known as Brexit.
Although there has been no final press conference, Ms. May will want to be seen at home and fight against Brussels to get the best deal possible for Britain – while trying to counter other people's concerns. Member States, in particular France, Spain and some countries. Scandinavian countries.
Ms May wants to add detailed terms to the political declaration on a future of "friction free trade" with the block and a technological solution currently non-existent to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom , and Ireland, which will remain in the European Union.
But other countries are accumulating with their own demands, many of which targeted their national constituencies, diplomats said. The political declaration, which is still under negotiation, has gone from seven original pages to more than twenty, according to diplomats.
France has particularly insisted on demanding better safeguards to create a level playing field with respect to economic competition with Britain once it has left the bloc, while maintaining a certain degree of competitiveness. 39, customs union of goods. The French also sought assurances on fishing quotas, a major concern of Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The French have been so frank, said a European official, that he wonders about the fact that Paris really wants Britain to leave the bloc without any agreement, although he thinks that in the end, France will accept the rest.
The talks between France and Germany have become so intense – Germany wishing that the deal be struck Friday and France wishing to extend the debate until Sunday – some people fear that Sunday's meeting does not take place at all.
Spain, with its prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, in power in a minority government, reacted to internal criticism by insisting that it would oppose an agreement on Brexit unless to be able to guarantee the future of Gibraltar, a British colony claimed by Spain, to agree. His concern is that the future of the colony remains a bilateral issue.
Spain will probably get some sort of guarantee or an accompanying letter, called "statement", clarifying this point. There may also be other statements.
Future fishing quotas are so complicated that they have been excluded from the withdrawal agreement, postponed to post-Brexit negotiations on the details of a future relationship. But the question is important for all the countries concerned, even the British fishing sector is divided between those who live from exports to the European Union and those who sell on the domestic market.
The British and Europeans are upset that if a separate fish agreement is not concluded by July 2020, the EU fishing industry will lose access to UK waters during the transition period, while England will lose access to European markets.
There are other concerns, noted Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a research institution. Some countries known for their pragmatism, such as the Netherlands, the Swedes and the Baltic countries, are working on legislation to cover important trade problems with Britain in the case of a Brexit without agreement . But the European Commission is asking them to refrain from doing so now, to continue to press Britain for it to complete and ratify the withdrawal agreement rather than "working to help the British to mitigate their effects through mini-transactions before a possible "no-deal", Mr. Dit Grant.
The European Central Bank also discourages countries from entering into prior agreements on financial services.
The political statement must be approved alongside the binding withdrawal agreement, a text of nearly 600 pages of legal clauses, which Ms. May insists that it can no longer be changed. Both documents are required under the EU Treaty Article 50, which governs the exit of a country from the bloc.
Other EU member states are considering approving both documents at a special summit in Brussels on Sunday, and EU officials hope the texts will be completed by Friday to ensure swift approval. But as in the European Union, delays can tend to slip.
Once accepted by the bloc, it is then up to Mrs. May to have the documents approved by the British Parliament, which seems to be an extremely difficult task. Then they will receive the final approval of the European Parliament, with little agitation, so that Britain can come out neatly on March 29 of next year.
Diplomats and officials of the European Union stressed that they did not want to do anything that made it more difficult for Ms. May. So they are trying not to stir up further quarrels within its divided conservative party or in Parliament, where the withdrawal agreement is already heavily criticized and where its majority is threatened.
Mr Grant predicted the European approval of the deal on Sunday, despite criticism. "I think in the end it will be more theater than substance," he said. But this will also be true for Mrs May, who must be seen as a defense of British sovereignty in her relations with Brussels.
The irony is that Britain has spent months circumventing the bloc's negotiator, Michel Barnier, and appealing to friendly countries like the Netherlands and Germany to support them in the negotiations, a ploy that failed and annoyed the other Member States. But now that the other bloc countries are more directly involved, they raise objections to what they see as a good deal for Britain, all things considered, not the other way around.
"Frustration is rising with regard to Britain and a new willingness to express it in France and Spain," said Simon Tilford, a British economist and expert in Europe. "But it's just the opt-out, so it's a bit hard to understand why governments are frustrated. The withdrawal agreement paves the way for the transition and negotiation of a future agreement, with guarantees for Ireland, that's all. "
Regarding the British, Mr. Tilford said: "We do not know how much of the rest of Europe is frustrated, perplexed and bored. The inability of the Brexiters to go beyond their own identity and to see themselves through the eyes of others is astounding. "
Before flying to Brussels, Ms May told British lawmakers that the rejection of her contract would mean "more uncertainty, more division, otherwise it might not breed Brexit at all".
The latest warning was also pointed out by Amber Rudd, who joined the government. "I think people are going to take a close look at the abyss," Rudd said of Parliament, and will ask if they think it serves the best interests of the whole country. "If they're not careful, then she Brexiteers may lose their Brexit."
Gibraltar has long been a thorn in relations between London and Madrid – and the border between Rock and the Spanish mainland has been completely closed during part of the Franco dictatorship. More recently, the crossing of the border has remained a problem, with Britain sometimes denouncing in Brussels the tightening of border controls that Madrid justified in the context of its attempt to combat smuggling, especially of tobacco. Great Britain and Spain have also engaged in similar disputes over access to the territorial waters of Gibraltar.
Spain maintains that Gibraltar is a colonial relic in which the United Kingdom should return, just as it did for Menorca, the island it also officially took under the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. Britain notes, however, that the people of Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining British nationality, including in a 2002 sovereignty referendum.
