As the two sides prepare for the start of negotiations next month, Stefaan De Rynck highlighted the UK’s proximity to Brussels compared with Canada as a key factor, as well as warning that the trade talks could get “rather difficult”.
The key aide also repeated what has now become an EU mantra that a tariff-free, quota-free deal is not possible without the UK committing to a “level playing field” on state subsidies, environmental protections and workers’ rights.
This week the UK government’s trade negotiator, David Frost, gave a speech in Brussels calling for a “Canada free trade agreement-type relationship”. He said that “to think that we might accept EU supervision on so-called level playing field issues simply fails to see the point of what we are doing”.
In response, Barnier said the UK could not have the same trade deal with the EU as Canada. He said the EU was ready to offer an “ambitious partnership” with the UK, but he said its “particular proximity” meant it would be different.
Speaking at the London School of Economics on Wednesday, De Rynck said: “If you allow some irony, some in the UK now seem to want to become Canadians. But of course Dover is much closer to Calais than Ottawa is. The distance from Dover to Calais, and – thanks to the foresight of Margaret Thatcher and others – the speed of connection to the tunnel, is of course much quicker than what we have with our Canadian friends. So proximity matters.”
He said what mattered was the interconnectedness between economies. “Zero-quota, zero-tariff access, this brings a lot of benefits to the UK economy and with benefits come obligations,” De Rynck said. “And it’s clear that for us it’s a different ball game that we are playing with the UK to the one that we agreed with Canada in terms of the level playing field.”
On the same day, Johnson gave a speech in Greenwich in which he claimed the UK would not need to accept EU rules in trade. He outlined the government’s red lines but gave none of the detail that would be expected from parties about to embark on trade talks.
EU member states are due to confirm the bloc’s negotiating objectives at a meeting next week but the UK’s plans to publish a mirror document next week have reportedly been cancelled.
De Rynck said: “We’re certainly also looking forward to the UK document that was promised for next week. We, of course, have read the speeches that were given over the last week, also by the prime minister in Greenwich on the 3rd of February and other statements …
“One written document that came out on the 3rd of February was the ministerial statement, which I cannot hide from you is a source of some concern in terms of the level of ambition of the political declaration not perhaps being fully met always by what is said in that ministerial statement.
“Notably on issues such as level playing field, the court of justice and internal security cooperation, the overarching governance framework which we have agreed with the United Kingdom.”
Canada’s deal with the EU, which took seven years to negotiate, eliminates most import tariffs on goods but not all. It also increases quotas – the amount of a product that can be exported without extra charges – but does not remove them entirely.
The UK is in a transition period, after leaving the EU on 31 January, and has until the end of the year to hammer out a trade deal with Brussels. Until then, the country still follows the majority of EU rules.
Highlighting the potential difficulty of negotiating in a tight timeframe, De Rynck said: “We have a vast amount of work and we seem to have 10 months to do it, or less than 10 months if you calculate the time for ratification so that everybody can be ready on January 1, 2021 for the new regime.
“I would expect some of these negotiations to be rather difficult, perhaps more difficult that during withdrawal because the scope of issues is so much vaster.”

Source: Vitic/ www.theguardian.com