BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2020) The United Kingdom and the European Union appear to brace themselves for tough trade talks, with their first post-Brexit statements indicating an unfolding conflict between London's push to revive its free trade tradition and the protectionism of the EU27, experts told Sputnik.
After the UK left the European bloc on Friday, the two sides have until December 31 to hammer out a new deal on trade, law enforcement cooperation, foreign policy, security and defense, among other issues.
In a keynote speech on Monday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his country would not accept any Brussels-imposed standards and rules over competition, welfare spending and environmental regulations in any future treaty.
The speech was a clear signal to the EU, which says that the UK will not be able to completely break away from community rules if it wants to retain broad access to the common market.
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in turn, warned London of a risk of a "cliff edge" unless the sides strike a deal within the remaining 11 months.
DAYS HAVE GONE WHEN FREE TRADE WAS UNANIMOUSLY EMBRACED
According to experts, this sabre-rattling proves that the sides drift further apart in their post-Brexit trade strategies.
"The return of the negotiations difficulties is not a surprise. The clash between basic political and economic options was and is metabolized in the EU's internal process. But now, the free trade vision of London suddenly becomes obvious and detonates, as does the protectionism of France for example in the Europe 'remaining' at 27," Michel Liegeois, a professor at Belgium's University of Louvain, told Sputnik.
The expert said that it would be more difficult for the UK to reach an agreement on all sectors of cooperation as the bloc is set to act as a united front in protecting its trade interests.
"Times have changed: long gone are the days when free trade and happy globalization were unanimously accepted. Certain regions of Europe such as Wallonia have said no to CETA's agreement with Canada. Why would they say yes to a similar agreement with the United Kingdom which will be more difficult for them to accept even if the UK is closer?" the professor added.
UK DETERMINED TO TAKE BACK CONTROLS
Commenting on the UK-EU row around what rules and standards should govern the future trade, Liegeois suggested that London would not give much ground on that and turn to other partners instead, such as the US.
"For the United Kingdom, if they are left with a new series of obligations to keep their privileged trade relations with the European bloc, that only means changing the colour of the handcuffs, it won't work! They want to regain their own sovereignty. They will probably go very quickly to sign a framework agreement with the United States, because it is simpler. It is not the European tower of babel and it is also the interest of Donald Trump to show this success in the presidential campaign which begins," he said.
The EU's current attempts to set conditions like "a fisheries agreement or no agreement" only prove that Brussels may turn out as a more intransigent partner than the US, according to the professor.
The Irish border issue was a major stumbling block in Brexit talks. The EU warned that a hard border would mean a flare up of tensions in Northern Ireland, with many expressing fears of a new civil war.
In a comment to Sputnik, British Brexiteer Francis Cole, a retired senior European civil servant, said that the Irish border issue had been "grossly exaggerated."
"It would not apply to the persons' car traffic between the North and South of the island, but only to trucks and commercial vehicles. For decades, in the European Union before the customs rights were suppressed, trucks stopped at the border, had their documents taken care of by customs agencies, and then drove on. Twenty minutes top," he stated.
Cole believes that the real problem is the "lack of goodwill on the part of the Brussels administration."
He added that Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's weekend statement that "the imposition of bureaucracy, checks, tariffs and quotas" in the trade with the UK would be good for no one highlighted the artificiality of these "blown up problems."
