Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Brexit Negotiations Still Dead
The pandemic has taken up most of the political oxygen in Britain, with a three-tiered system for not addressing the problem effectively. However, Brexit is still going ahead, and the negotiations between London and Brussels are up against a deadline just over two months away. The transition period ends as 2020 becomes 2021 on December 31. Then, the agreement between the two kicks in, except there is no agreement. Moreover, the Johnson government says the negotiations are dead. The EU has just yielded on all the pre-conditions the government asked for, but the negotiations are still dead, just like Monty Python's parrot.
On Monday, there were talks about talks, sort of. They resulted in a government spokesman saying to the media, "This was a constructive discussion. The UK has noted the EU's proposal to genuinely intensify talks, which is what would be expected at this stage in a negotiation. However, the UK continues to believe there is no basis to resume talks unless there is a fundamental change of approach from the EU. This means an EU approach consistent with trying to find an agreement between sovereign equals and with acceptance that movement needs to come from the EU side as well as the UK. The two teams agreed to remain in close touch."
As a reply, Michel Barnier, the EU's top negotiator, just tweeted this morning, "As stated by President @vonderleyen on Friday, I confirmed that the EU remains available to intensify talks in London this week, on all subjects, and based on legal texts. We now wait for the UK's reaction." The intensification of the talks was the main issue for London because the sands are running out of the hourglass.
This came out while Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (a non-job that comes with cabinet status) was at the dispatch box in Commons. He stated, "Even while I have been at the dispatch box it has been reported that there has been a constructive move on the part of the EU and I welcome that . . . obviously we need to work on the basis of the proposed intensification they propose. And I prefer to look forward in optimism than look back in anger."
That sounds promising, but the government remain committed to not talking just yet about everything. The prompted Theresa May to decry the government's plans for a no-deal Brexit as "utter rubbish." She went on to observe that the UK needs a deal at least when it comes to international security concerns. She told the House, "the government appears resigned to the prospect of no deal, yet one area which they should not be resigned to the prospect of no deal is in security."
The reason was embedded in her question to Mr. Gove. "Will [Gove] confirm that if the UK walks away with no deal then our police and law enforcement agencies will no longer have the necessary access to databases, such as PNR (passenger name records), in order to continue to identify and catch criminals and potential terrorists in order to keep us safe?"
The question even the most uninterested party would ask at this stage is whether the government have any interest in a deal with Brussels. Or are these just theatrical antics to make it look like they tried while never really intending to achieve anything? In these times, it is not overly cynical to pose the question. The next 48 hours will tell the world much.
© Copyright 2020 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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