Asked today by EurActiv.com if “the lack of any contingency planning for Brexit by the British government ahead of the referendum, plus all three Brexit ministers being reprimanded, or clarified, by Downing Street on policy positions, meant that the Commision was confident it had a competent interlocutor for next year’s negotiations”, a spokesman for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, “We have a team in place…and we await Article 50”.
Advertisement
But aside from perturbed investors, Britain’s new leader must balance an abundance of views on Brexit: German and French leaders facing elections in 2017, a divided electorate that will vote again in 2020 and a strong pro-Brexit wing in her party and government.
In a strongly-worded attack Mr Schulz blamed the nastiness of the Leave campaign for the death of Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley & Spen who was killed during the campaign.
Schulz, who said Britain shouldn’t be treated as a “deserter” after meeting Theresa May on Thursday, also warned that the European Parliament could veto any future deal.
In his speech in the US, Mr Osborne also defended the government’s involvement in Libya – criticised by the foreign affairs committee earlier this month – and said governments should not be afraid of intervening in crises like Syria.
Speaking to Marr, Johnson said: ‘I think the crucial thing is that obviously we are not going to do it before Christmas and I think we’ve got to do a lot of work to get our ducks in order, and that is going on.
Mr Schulz also restated the principle of “no negotiation before notification”. “Then I have no problem with that provided that we have control”, he said.
The rest of Europe is “looking on with concern” at the increase in “xenophobic violence and hate” since the June Brexit vote, Schulz said.
Part of the negotiations will involve Britain’s level of access to the European single market and whether it imposes controls on immigration from EU countries.
He added: “The only correct attitude towards such violence is zero tolerance”.
He also called for European Union citizens “unwittingly caught up” in Brexit to have their rights guaranteed.
Elsewhere in his speech, Schulz said that “the best possible deal with the European Union is membership of the European Union”, and that any other arrangement would need to include “trade-offs”.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that it is “absolute baloney” to suggest that Britain will be unable to retain access to the European single market unless it keeps free movement rules allowing all EU citizens to live and work in the UK.
Advertisement
“I think the real question has to be out to British politicians and the British public, will Britain outside the European Union remain the outward looking nation so many of us know?”
