Britain is going to have to compromise on issues such as consumer rights and environment protection if it wants to maintain full access to the EU’s single market, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas said yesterday.
“By the end of the year, we need to be clear on the shape of our relationship,” Mass wrote in a guest article in German weekly Die Zeit in reference to the post-Brexit transition period.
“So let me say very openly: Yes, we all want zero tariffs and zero trade barriers, but that also means zero dumping and zero unfair competition. Without similar standards to protect our workers, our consumers and the environment, there can be no full access to the largest single market in the world,” Mass wrote.
Photo: Bloomberg
Britain and the EU must therefore conduct the negotiations on their post-Brexit economic relations in a way that “won’t harm the European Union,” Maas said.
Britain and the EU needed to develop new forms of cooperation on security and defense, such as by creating a European Security Council that could help coordinate joint positions on strategic issues of European security and to respond more quickly to international crises, he said.
“We are working with France to flesh out this idea as quickly as possible in order to build a foundation for our future relationship,” Maas wrote.
He also suggested that the EU’s door would always remain open for Britain to come back.
Referring to the Beatles song Hello, goodbye, Mass said that both sides had sorted out the goodbye.
“But should this farewell ever turn out to be less final than anticipated, rest assured that we will always have a place for you at our table in Brussels and in our hearts,” he added.
Meanwhile, the British government said it would introduce a bill into parliament yesterday for legislation to end automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters.
Under the Fisheries Bill, Britain will leave the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy at the end of the 11-month Brexit transition period on Dec. 31, giving it the power to operate as an independent coastal state.
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that would allow Britain to operate its fish stocks sustainably outside the EU.
“In future, access to fish in UK waters will be a matter for the UK to negotiate and we will decide on the rules that foreign vessels must follow,” it said.
Hopes were high that the government would prioritize the financial sector in trade talks, but bank sources last week said that a push by the EU for fishing access to UK waters and London’s stance that it would diverge from EU rules are prompting them to review for a hard Brexit.
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