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Britain 'unconditionally committed' to European security - Theresa May Juncker says miracles needed for progress on Brexit talks
(about 4 hours later)
Theresa May has reaffirmed that Britain is “unconditionally committed” to maintaining security cooperation with the European Union as the UK prepares for Brexit. Jean-Claude Juncker has effectively ruled out a widening of the Brexit negotiations next month to take in a future trading relationship between Britain and the bloc, despite an acknowledgement by senior EU officials that Theresa May’s speech in Florence last week had been “full of concessions”.
During a joint visit to a military base in Estonia with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the prime minister said threats from Russian aggression to illegal migration and cybersecurity made security in the union increasingly vital. “At the end of October, we will not have sufficient progress”, the president of the European commission said in Tallinn, Estonia, at a summit of EU leaders. “I’m saying that there will be no sufficient progress from now until October unless miracles would happen.”
“When a nation like Russia deliberately violates the rules-based international order that we have worked so hard to create, we must come together with our allies to defend that international system,” May told British troops based in northern Estonia. Juncker’s tone was strikingly pessimistic, in contrast to some EU leaders, as he told reporters there had not been enough movement by the British on its financial settlement, citizens’ rights and the Irish border.
May added: “The United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security and we will continue to offer aid and assistance to EU member states that are the victims of armed aggression, terrorism and natural or manmade disasters... Brussels has long demanded sufficient progress on those issues before it fulfils the UK’s wish to move on to talks about trade. The UK had hoped to get the go-ahead on future trade talks when EU leaders meet again next month.
“While we are leaving the European Union, as I have said many times, we are not leaving Europe so the United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security. Juncker’s comments will reinforce the British government’s fear that the European commission – the EU’s executive body – is acting as a block on progress.
“Russia’s continued aggression represents a growing danger to our friends here in Estonia as well as Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and our response must be clear and unequivocal. This week, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, embarked on a charm offensive of senior ministers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, with British government sources explaining that they felt a need to explain their position without the filter of the commission, and the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.
“By stepping up Nato’s deterrence and defence posture you are showing that we are equipped to respond to any threat that we face. You are showing that we are ready to do so.” On Thursday, Barnier hailed a “new dynamic” to the negotiations in the wake of May’s Florence speech, but suggested that talks could remain in a stalemate for months unless the UK agreed to honour all its financial commitments.
May is in Estonia for a summit of EU leaders. She arrived on Thursday for a meal with 26 other leaders, who vowed to remain united through the Brexit talks. May made pledges on the divorce bill and citizens’ rights in Florence. Speaking in Talinn on Friday, she repeated her hope that the speech would give the talks momentum, which she hoped would be reciprocated in Brussels.
More follows ... A Downing Street spokesman said May had reiterated that aspiration to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, during a face to face meeting on the margins of the summit.
The spokesman said Merkel had welcomed the Florence speech and that the two leaders had agreed on the need to settle the issue of citizens’ rights “at the earliest opportunity”.
Christian Kern, the Austrian chancellor, said he was pleased May had made clear to fellow leaders during a dinner in Tallinn on Thursday night that she was “not leaving Europe but the EU and is willing to cooperate”.
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