France’s Europe minister today warned Boris Johnson that a December deadline for ending Brexit trade talks could risk the “level of ambition” for a deal.
In a speech in London, Amélie de Montchalin was expected to urge the two sides not to let their hopes be damaged by imposing a rigid deadline on the negotiations.
In a riposte to Michael Gove, who yesterday told MPs the UK “will not trade away our sovereignty”, she was expected to tell an audience at Chatham House that the EU would not trade away its own sovereignty in a deal with the UK.
France is seen by UK negotiators as likely to be the most challenging of 27 EU countries when talks begin on a future relationship on Monday.
Paris’s demands for a guarantee on fishing rights to British waters are a potential sticking point.
Ms de Montchalin, inset, was set to say that with the “political Brexit” behind them, the EU and UK could talk as two sovereign powers to build a new relationship, with the strong ties of Britain’s 40-year EU membership not disappearing.
But she was expected to add that the EU would decide for itself how to trade with “third countries” — and, like the UK, it would not trade away its independence in any deal. Ms de Montchalin was also set to say that it would be wrong to let the level of ambition be affected by deadlines.
France intends to keep on fighting common challenges with the UK, including climate change and international security.
Formal talks on a future EU-UK relationship, spanning trade, security and fishing, start in Brussels on Monday between the EU’s Michel Barnier and British negotiator David Frost.
On the same day, the Government will symbolically switch its focus to America by publishing negotiating objectives for a trade deal with Donald Trump.
