“And yet, here he is unpicking the deal this country signed with the EU a decade after the referendum. He is not going to get a better deal. The EU are tough negotiators.”
The UK already had an amazingly favorable deal compared to most EU countries; expecting an even better one is asinine.
I don’t think that quote is referring to the deal that the UK had when it was in the EU. I think the quote is referring to the UK’s post-Brexit deal with the EU (the Trade and Cooperation Agreement). I guess Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader who gave that quote, believes that the Prime Minister is wasting time if he tries to get an improvement on that deal, because she thinks the EU won’t significantly change it. I disagree with Badenoch’s pessimism though. I think the UK should try to get a closer relationship with the EU, and I think the EU might be receptive to this.
Michel Barnier, formerly the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, recently indicated his support for “a stronger EU-UK defence pact”, for example. That article shows that Barnier considers freedom of movement to be a non-negotiable part of single market membership (just like it was when the UK was in the EU). But he seems open to the idea of the UK not adopting the euro, if it rejoined the EU: “he added that adopting the euro need not necessarily be a condition of renewed membership”. This is coherent with Barnier earlier this year saying that the UK could potentially stay out of the euro and out of the Schengen Area if it rejoined the EU:
I am speaking about Schengen, I am speaking about the single currency: there are other member states who are not in them. It is perfectly possible to have opt-outs in these fields.
iirc the UK actually somehow negotiated itself into a worse deal than the EU was actually offering due to refusing to concede on some things that then had to be done anyway for trade purposes?
It seems like a clumsy attempt to appease both sides somehow. Like they‘re trying to look willing to the outside but make a ridiculous offer so they actually don‘t have to join.
The UK already had an amazingly favorable deal compared to most EU countries; expecting an even better one is asinine.
The Brexiteers literally unpicked a great deal we had with the EU years after we signed it and didn’t get a better deal…
I don’t think that quote is referring to the deal that the UK had when it was in the EU. I think the quote is referring to the UK’s post-Brexit deal with the EU (the Trade and Cooperation Agreement). I guess Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader who gave that quote, believes that the Prime Minister is wasting time if he tries to get an improvement on that deal, because she thinks the EU won’t significantly change it. I disagree with Badenoch’s pessimism though. I think the UK should try to get a closer relationship with the EU, and I think the EU might be receptive to this.
Michel Barnier, formerly the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, recently indicated his support for “a stronger EU-UK defence pact”, for example. That article shows that Barnier considers freedom of movement to be a non-negotiable part of single market membership (just like it was when the UK was in the EU). But he seems open to the idea of the UK not adopting the euro, if it rejoined the EU: “he added that adopting the euro need not necessarily be a condition of renewed membership”. This is coherent with Barnier earlier this year saying that the UK could potentially stay out of the euro and out of the Schengen Area if it rejoined the EU:
iirc the UK actually somehow negotiated itself into a worse deal than the EU was actually offering due to refusing to concede on some things that then had to be done anyway for trade purposes?
It seems like a clumsy attempt to appease both sides somehow. Like they‘re trying to look willing to the outside but make a ridiculous offer so they actually don‘t have to join.