Words of war over Gibraltar and a war of words in the European Parliament kicked off a rocky first week in Brexit talks.
Gibraltar
A reference to the British territory in the European Council’s draft Brexit guidelines last week infuriated the UK, with ex-Conservative party leader Michael Howard recalling how the UK had gone to war with Argentina in the 1980s over the Falklands islands (see EUROPE 11759).
Following a meeting in London between European Council president Donald Tusk and British prime minister Theresa May, an EU source said the two sides would seek to “lower tensions” in upcoming talks, but admitted that the issue of Gibraltar “inevitably will become difficult”.
A UK government spokesperson said there would be “no negotiation on the sovereignty of Gibraltar without the consent of its people”.
‘Gangsters’
The territory, which is the subject of a centuries-long sovereignty dispute between the UK and Spain, didn’t make it into the European Parliament’s resolution on Brexit, with MEPs deciding it was too tricky an issue to tackle there (see EUROPE 11762).
That didn’t stop bitter exchanges in the chamber, with chief Brexiteer Nigel Farage accusing MEPs of “behaving like the mafia” by holding the UK to ransom over Gibraltar and the country’s exit bill.
The Parliament’s Brexit point man, Guy Verhofstadt, hit back, calling Brexit a “stupidity” and saying the UK would one day seek to rejoin the EU.
Guidelines
But the posturing will have little effect on the Brexit deal beginning to take shape.
Several sources close to the talks say the European Council’s draft guidelines are unlikely to undergo major edits before they are finally signed off at a summit of EU leaders on 29 April.
EU member states’ Brexit advisers, or ‘sherpas’ will meet in Brussels on 11 April for a first round of talks on the nine-page text, which one source said would be about “fine-tuning” and “clarification”.
They meet again later in the month, with EU ambassadors and Europe ministers taking over before the text gets to leaders.
The European Commission, meanwhile, has all but finished drafting its recommendation for a negotiating mandate or “directives” for the talks, which will contain more detail on citizens’ rights, the EU budget and Northern Ireland, the EU’s top three priorities for the exit deal.
That document is due to be agreed by the Commission (including UK commissioner Julian King) on 3 May but has then to be adopted by a qualified majority of EU countries (not including the UK), which is set to happen on 22 May at a meeting of Europe ministers.
It empowers the Commission’s lead negotiator, Michel Barnier, to start talks with the UK.
Those interested in the look and feel of the text should consult the EU’s negotiating mandate for its trade deal with Canada (CETA), or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US.
Both documents run to just under 20 pages and set out, chapter by chapter, what the EU wants to include in the final deal.
The mandate can be tweaked during the course of the talks - the Canada directives were amended after a dispute over private investor courts - and there will be a separate mandate for a future EU-UK trade deal.
The UK’s position is set out in its February white paper on Brexit and Theresa May’s Article 50 letter of 29 March (see EUROPE 11759, 11757).
See the first instalment of the 'The B-word' newsletter: Things finally get real (see EUROPE 11759).
(Sarah Collins)