It should have been a quiet week, with the EU basking in the glory of its “total unity” on Brexit guidelines and the UK distracted by its upcoming general election.
But European Council president Donald Tusk was forced to step in with a call for “discretion, moderation, mutual respect and the maximum of goodwill” after heated exchanges between London and Brussels.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May accused the EU of deliberately undermining the election with what she sees as a “hardened” Brexit stance, following press reports that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had described her as delusional about the upcoming negotiations (see EUROPE 11779).
Mr Juncker on Friday in Florence went on to say that the English language was “losing importance” before launching into a speech in French where he accused the UK of “abandoning” the EU (see other article).
“These negotiations are difficult enough as they are,” Mr Tusk cautioned. “If we start arguing before they even begin, they will become impossible. The stakes are too high to let our emotions get out of hand.”
European ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has likened the EU and UK to boxers or wrestlers squaring up to each other before a fight. “It reminds me of before a boxing match, a wrestling match, the weigh-in beforehand, where they all face off against each other, throw insults and then the match begins,” Ms O’Reilly said to EUROPE. “But you can’t continue negotiations at that pitch”.
She is pushing for a maximum of transparency during the upcoming talks, which she says will benefit both sides. “With 28 - still - member states involved, and all of them with varying agendas and varying interests, and all of these documents having to be shared among so many different parties, then of course stuff is going to be leaked,” she said.
“So you’re better to get it out there with your own spin rather than wait. When traceability is difficult, it’s easier to leak,” she added. “I said to one of my colleagues: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’, and I think that’s how transparency is being seen in the EU institutions,” she added.
The EU has already published its draft and final negotiating guidelines (see EUROPE 11778) and more detailed negotiating texts which have yet to be signed off by EU ministers. The documents have revealed how far apart the EU and UK are, both on content and on timing, with the UK still hoping to agree a deal on citizens by June and start talks on a future trade deal in parallel with the divorce deal.
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said this week that the UK “must put a great deal of energy” into appeasing the EU on citizens’ rights, money and borders before that will be possible (see EUROPE 11780). And although he insisted he would not be “guided by emotions and hostility” during the negotiations, the last week has shown how quickly things can turn sour.