In view of the slow progress of the Brexit talks, the Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, David McAllister (CDU), defended the EU's tough negotiating position. A transitional phase after the Brexit, as suggested by British Prime Minister May, is useful, but only conceivable under clear conditions, said McAllister in an interview with Südwestrundfunk (SWR).
According to May's ideas, Britain will remain in the EU internal market for another two years after leaving the EU. In a resolution the EU Parliament wants to clarify the conditions for this next week. In such a transitional phase, the entire EU law, in particular "all four free movement of the internal market" would have to be observed without prejudice. The same applies to the case law of the European Court of Justice, said the CDU foreign policy officer to SWR2's Daily Discussion. All in all, this follows a "Norwegian model". And further: "A policy of cherry picking will not work according to ideas of the European Parliament."
Rude awakening?
On the question of possible green lights to speed up the lack of progress, McAllister said that on the British side some politicians who had declared before the referendum how easy an EU exit would be are now confronted with reality and perhaps also had difficulties accepting this reality.
McAllister regretted that no substantial progress had been made in the previous round of negotiations. For this reason, the second phase of the talks, which was originally scheduled for October, could not begin as planned, the Foreign Affairs committee chairman continued. In this phase, economic relations between the EU and Great Britain will be discussed. At the same time, McAllister pointed out that the timetable for Brexit was unchanged: in March 2019, the United Kingdom would "unfortunately" leave the EU. McAllister stated: "The clock tickles mercilessly!
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