It seems that President Macron is proposing relations with Europe that Central Britain has long sought, whether moderate remnants or moderate Brexitists – and the line between them is an artificial controversy after the referendum.
“This new European organization will offer democratic nations that adhere to our core values a new space for political cooperation in the fields of security, energy, transport, infrastructure investment and the free movement of people, especially our young people,” he said. .
Macron’s wording implies giving Ukraine and others a higher degree of access to the EU single market than they already have. This certainly reopens aspects of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
The EU can immediately change some elements of the deal with the UK if it wants better relations. She denied the UK’s mutual recognition of product conformity assessment, a kind offer offered to Canada and Australia. He refused to respond even to financial equivalence (himself very limited), withholding cooperation granted to New York or Singapore in areas such as derivatives. He offered the Chinese Communists better conditions for financial services.
This Brexit agreement is unlike anything that exists in international trade law. The EU aims to prevent future legal differences on the grounds that this would be unfair competition. But competition is the lifeblood of the free market and the root of rising living standards for three centuries. It does not disregard WTO principles at all.
The EU hopes to do so by entering into British domestic law to regulate the way products are produced, which is a radical break with WTO practice. He has a “balance mechanism” armed with hooks, all in fear of “cross-revenge” if the United Kingdom considers itself offended. There is a permanent sword of Damocles, because the EU can terminate the whole agreement at any time. Britain accepts such conditions only under duress.
This criminal agreement has always been a risky strategy for the EU itself, as it pushes the UK even further into the US regulatory orbit and could lead to a New York-London condominium over Western finances. Mr Macron knows that Paris has failed to take away much of City’s business, and he found in the AUKUS submarine deal that ensuring that Brexit “hurts” is a two-way street. The charm can take him further.
His confederation is not doing well in Eastern Europe. Mr Macron praised Ukraine’s courage, “already today in the heart of our Europe, our family or our union”, only to dispel hopes, adding that it would probably be “several decades” before the country joins to the EU.
After all, Ukraine will have no choice. A narrow confederation would at least be better than the status quo.
For Britain, it is full of seductive opportunities, the answer for millions of us who want the relationship with Europe that Canada has with the United States. Still, it’s not such a scandalous thing to ask.
Add Comment