News / Politics

Brexit negotiator warns UK it has 'more to lose' than EU

Thursday, 06 July 2017 3:16 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 06 July 2017 5:57 PM ]

European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier gestures during a working visit at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium July 6, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

The European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has warned Britain that it has more to lose than the European Union if it were to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal.

Speaking in Brussels, Barnier also warned that frictionless trade between the EU and Britain would be impossible after Brexit.

“We want to be ready for all eventualities, including ‘no deal’, a possibility that has been mentioned again recently by several British ministers,” he said at a meeting of employers, trade unions and NGOs.

"No deal would make a lose-lose situation even worse ... in my mind, there is no reasonable justification for a no-deal," he added, referring to recent suggestions by British ministers that London could go its own way if the talks fail.

Barnier said the bloc would make no compromise on its agenda.

He added that Britain could not expect to cherry-pick its ties with the EU as many British politicians say it should.

"I have heard some people in the UK argue that one can leave the single market and keep all of its benefits - that is not possible," Barnier said. "I have heard some people in the UK argue that one can leave the single market and build a customs union to achieve 'frictionless trade' – that is not possible."

The UK and the EU started the formal Brexit talks last month. UK Prime Minister Theresa May expects the Brexit process to be completed by March 2019 but the EU has warned that the two sides should reach a deal before October 2018.

May has made it clear that if the two sides miss the deadline without achieving a deal she would take the country out of the EU regardless, raising the prospects of a so-called “hard Brexit.”

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The issue of citizens’ rights is one of the three priorities in the Brexit talks. Nearly three million Europeans are currently living in Britain and around one million Britons living elsewhere in the EU.

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