On Monday 9 July, the European Commission reiterated its availability “24/7” to negotiate the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU with British negotiators, with three British ministers and government heavyweights having thrown in the towel, on Sunday 8 and Monday 9 July, due to their differences with the Prime Minister, Theresa May.
On Sunday evening, the Minister for Brexit, David Davis, announced his departure, followed by Steve Baker, the number two in the Brexit department.
On Monday, it was Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, also one of the harshest critics of May's stance in the negotiations, who stepped down. These decisions led Jean-Claude Juncker to make a joke, at the press conference following the EU-Ukraine summit on Monday (see article), about the great “unity of views” within the British government after the meeting at Chequers. The two ministers announced their resignation – by the evening of Sunday 8 July in the case of Davis – when May's cabinet had apparently ended up rallying, on Friday 6 July, behind a compromise on Brexit after this meeting at Chequers, the country residence of the Prime Minister near London (see EUROPE 12057).
Davis was replaced on Monday by the housing minister, Dominic Raab, who has also been labelled a Eurosceptic, but Johnson's successor had not been named by the time we went to press.
The departure of the Brexit minister will not be a problem for the EU, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas explained on Monday lunchtime, reiterating the availability of the European negotiators to resume work. A forthcoming negotiating session has been scheduled for next week. Johnson's departure should be interpreted in the same way. However, the resignations of these two senior government figures will inevitably put the British leader under pressure and may throw up a further crisis, which could become a problem for the EU and the time frame agreed upon.
For her part, May summed up the results of the Chequers meeting to Juncker late on Sunday afternoon when the two leaders spoke over the telephone, Schinas said. The content of the compromise reached – which has still to be put in writing in a White Paper, most likely to be presented on Thursday 12 July, May confirmed on Monday evening – concerns the creation of a free-trade zone with the EU. In a press release following the meeting, published on Friday evening, the Prime Minister explained that the proposal would create a free-trade zone between the UK and the EU with a set of common rules for industrial goods and agricultural products.
The proposals draw on the ideas sketched out by May on 2 March in her first speech on the future relationship. On customs, the British government is proposing to apply at its borders and the customs duty and trade rules of the United Kingdom to goods destined for the UK and the customs duties and commercial rules of the EU to goods destined for the EU, it reiterated on 5 July. This system would make it possible to avoid customs controls between the UK and the EU and to resolve the Irish question, London stresses.
Confirming the end of free movement, the government reiterates its inclination towards a system allowing British and EU citizens to continue to travel, study or work in each other's territories.
The country may also participate in European agencies and, within this framework, comply with the entire European supervisory architecture, including the Court.
Commenting on the departures from the May government, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, appeared both grave and optimistic, observing that politicians come and go, but the problems they create for the people remain. He regretted the fact that the idea of Brexit had not left with Davis and Johnson, but who knows? (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)