Upon our return from Austria, after a long week during which I also visited Denmark and Slovakia, Sabine, Stéphanie and I are working together with Jean-Claude Juncker’s staff. For the first time I will be presenting a negotiation strategy to the President of the Commission.
First, there are a few issues in the Article 50 negotiation upon which agreement is essential, including the financial settlement that the UK must reach in order to settle accounts with the EU, and the need to agree upon the acquired rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens living in the EU. We also need to work on border issues, particularly in Ireland, and find a way to satisfy all aspects of the commitments of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, signed on 10 April 1998 to end the Troubles that had torn Northern Ireland apart for more than thirty years. These three issues will have to be addressed in the first phase.
Second, Article 50 provides that, in stipulating the terms of withdrawal, the exit agreement should take account of the future relationship with the remaining countries. In doing so, the existing models – Norway, Switzerland, Canada and others – cannot be used as a reference, contrary to what is already being suggested in some quarters, because they concern countries that are far less economically integrated with the EU than the UK is. Any future agreement with the UK will therefore need to be far more thorough in establishing a ‘level playing field’, particularly with regard to competition rules and jurisdictional authority.
Third, once the shape of the new relationship has been established, it will be possible to start thinking about a time-limited transition period, the aim of which will be to make the move to this new relationship as smooth as possible. The transition will need to be heavily supervised and will probably require continuation of some of the acquis communautaire, in particular the regulatory framework of the internal market, i.e. standards, norms, the various supervisory authorities and, necessarily, the authority of the EU Court of Justice. Legally, the establishment of such a transition period must form part of the exit agreement.
Finally, just as important as the substantive issues is the organization of the negotiations. A few days earlier, Georg brought to my attention an article written by Andrew Duff, a former British MEP and a great connoisseur of EU arcana. Duff points out that the European Councils are likely to be crucial points in the negotiations. And he is quite right! Controlling the timeline, setting the tempo, is key. We will structure the negotiations according to our own calendar.
Monday, 21 November 2016: Raising a glass of Prosecco to Boris
Sabine Weyand, Stefaan De Rynck and I have just met Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s sherpa at the Chigi Palace. It’s late, but many are still out on the sumptuous streets of Rome around the Farnese Palace.
I got to know Stefaan De Rynck in 1999 when he became my spokesman at the Commission for Institutional Reform. I have always found it reassuring to turn to the wise and subtle analyses of this Flemish Belgian. He is now in charge of communication and relations with think-tanks in my team, and closely follows the public debate in the UK.
A few days ago, the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson got involved in a nasty dispute with the Italian Minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda, and ended up threatening to stop buying Prosecco.
And so we decide to have a glass of Prosecco on the terrace; the moment is immortalized in Stefaan’s tweet, which will be reported throughout the British press… Protectionism is not the right attitude, nor the right message to be sending!
Wednesday, 30 November 2016: Facing the press
For the first time since I took office, this morning I am speaking to the press, having been invited by Jean-Claude Juncker to present the progress of our work to the College of Commissioners.
The Berlaymont press room is packed. Journalists have come from all over Europe, some from further afield. There is a burst of flash photography. The Greek spokesman for the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, hands over to me. I choose to open this first briefing in English.
I admit that I still have some progress to make in this language. I did have a good teacher, though: on one occasion I received a sort of personal English lesson from the Queen of England herself! It was Tuesday, 6 April 2004 and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was hosting a lunch in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, who had come to Paris to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.
As Foreign Secretary, I had the honour of being seated to the right of the Queen, who speaks impeccable French. As I had to go straight after lunch to the National Assembly to discuss current affairs, my intention was to give a special greeting to a delegation from the House of Lords and the House of Commons who would be attending the session for a while from the gallery.
‘Ma’am, may I ask, how you would say in English “Vive l’Entente cordiale”?’
‘You would say “Long live the Entente Cordiale”’, the Queen immediately replied.
With this very special lesson in English under my belt, I repeated the phrase a few minutes later before the Chamber, looking out at the British MPs – somewhat to the surprise of some French MPs and journalists, many of whom thought that I had made a mistake and that the correct phrase should have been ‘Long life to the Entente Cordiale’.
This episode was even reported in the humour magazine Le Canard enchaîné, which mistakenly mocked the foreign minister for his poor English.
But I never could have dreamt of having such an eminent teacher…
This meeting with journalists is an important moment, an opportunity to set the record straight, given the amount of ‘fake news’ that Brexit is provoking.
Today’s speech gives me the opportunity to let everyone know my state of mind: neither aggression, nor naivety, nor revenge. I want to remain calm in all circumstances. And Georg has devised a nice phrase that will do the rounds of the news channels: ‘Keep calm and negotiate.’ A nice invitation to the negotiating table, and a little jab at the British… Stefaan De Rynck will later get a bright red mug made for me emblazoned with the slogan, which I will keep prominently on my desk.
This press conference is also an occasion for me to play teacher, explaining the difference between withdrawal – the terms of which must be set out within a two-year period – and our future relationship – which will no doubt take longer to negotiate.
Finally, I use it as an opportunity to draw attention to the countless consequences of Brexit: human, social, economic and financial, technical and legal. And to list the main issues that we will need to work on in the run-up to withdrawal: the rights of European citizens in the UK and of British citizens in the EU; settlement of the financial commitments made by the UK to the Union as a member state; and the future of the Union’s new borders, particularly in Ireland.
I then head to the European Parliament to meet with the presidents of the political groups, after having spoken yesterday with President Martin Schulz and set out the inter-institutional working method I want to put in place. Schulz, always very European and direct, assured me of his trust. Around the table today I find other parliamentarians I have known for a long time: Guy Verhofstadt, Manfred Weber, Gianni Pittella, Philippe Lamberts, Gabriele Zimmer, Danuta Hübner…
They give me a warm and friendly welcome. They all know how much importance I attach to the work of the European Parliament, having always been convinced, in all my previous roles, that it has a crucial part to play in the balance of the institutions.
