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britain
should seek and europe should seek the
closest possible relations
as britain leaves the eu while britain
is leaving the european union
it will not it should not and in my view
it won't
turn its back on europe
when britain voted to leave the eu the
stated ambition was to keep the
relationship
as close as possible
but with the transition from two prime
ministers who focused on damage
limitation
now it's on mr johnson
to one determined to exploit the
possibilities of divergence
the mood music has changed
and in the weeks since the uk left the
single market
signs have appeared that both sides may
define the relationship
in increasingly competitive terms i'm
looking for
close alignment between uk and europe
into the future and i just worry a bit
about the
the post brexit noise from eu member
states towards britain
and vice versa this isn't an ongoing
sort of battle between the uk
and some of the bigger beasts or europe
they need to cool it
everyone needs to cool a little bit but
will they cool it
or are the politics of rivalry going to
prevail
lord daruc was the uk representative in
brussels and later ambassador to
washington
he believes downing street is at a
crossroads with europe
i do think we're at a moment but it will
stretch for a year or two
and it will be determined by what deals
we can do
with the eu over making brexit operate
better for british business and better
for northern ireland uh
and over where we go in future on
foreign policy corporation or defense
corporation
some of the other issues equivalents for
the city of london
that are currently rather contentious so
over the next two or three years i think
that
will have it will be a defining period
for the future of uh of uk eu relations
of course downing street still wants to
get on well with the eu
but boris johnson's language signing the
trading cooperation deal in december
was subtly different to cameron and his
closest possible relationship
the treaty that i've just signed is not
the end
it is it is a new beginning indeed the
government's desire to diverge from
europe and find new global markets
and investment means that some have
concluded
december's trade deal with the eu could
mark
the high point of relations rather than
the starting point of something bigger
there's some tension within the tory
party between
pragmatic euroskeptics that would be
happy with symbolic divergence
and ideological euroskeptics that want
substantive divergence and we'll
probably get some clues from
rishi sunak on the third of march when
he unveils his budget
around how the government's thinking
around the divergence agenda
but the question is one of divergence
how far how fast
alignment is really off the table
any proximity to europe is really off
the table
so was the coveted vaccine crisis a
temporary hiccup
or something more significant one
brussels player told me
up until then many people here saw
brexit britain as a bit of a joke
now they take it more seriously as a
competitor
under fire for being too slow to order
and license vaccines
the eu commission president has conceded
that the eu has the advantages of being
a big ship
but the uk those of a speedboat
there is no doubt that the way the eu
has handled the whole vaccine issue it's
been a huge mistake
but let's be clear being small and
nimble
has worked for us on vaccines probably
doesn't work so well
when you come to negotiating for example
trade deals
with much bigger and more powerful
partners
so how do the two sides avoid their
post-brexit relationship
becoming one of rivalry and
recrimination
on the eu side they have faith in
december's trade deal
to stop too much british
we do not have an automatic alignment
when european union changes anything
but we do have a clause that if if there
is too much divergence that then of
course the european union can take
measures and it protects
us from from too much divergence and it
gives the uk
a certain flexibility to to choose their
own rules
the next big discussion concerns
financial services
with the eu wanting the city to align
closely on regulation
while the bank of england governor
andrew bailey has pushed back
the eu has argued that it must better
understand how the uk intends to amend
or alter the rules going forwards
this is a standard that the eu holds no
other country to and would i suspect not
agree
to be held to itself so is this just
tough negotiating talk
or might the uk decide it's a big enough
financial services beast
not to become a rule taker from brussels
i think there's close to zero chance
that an equivalence decision will be
granted the uk doesn't want it and the
europeans don't want to grant it
the uk thinks it would be a nice to have
but not at the price of subordinating
the city
to rule taking from brussels i think
there is a view that the sector will be
much more effectively regulated by the
treasury
and the bank of england than the
european commission the european view is
a prerequisite for equivalence is trust
cooperation and a stable relationship
between the two sides which
is decisively not the case between the
uk and
the european union at the moment on
financial services
it's the desire of some big players
france and germany mainly
that the uk shouldn't have the same
level of access that it did as an eu
member
that might frustrate agreement but on
the other area
where there had been high hopes for
cooperation defense and security
the reluctance is more on this side of
the channel
on defense security what i'm hearing
is that it's mostly us who don't seem to
be interested
you would like to do more with us on
defense and foreign policy and security
and we are worried about what impact
that has on our freedom of movement on
our sovereignty
and we really want a very um a la carte
approach to this
to cooperate with the eu on policy
towards russia
on the moments when it chooses us but
have complete freedom
to diverge when it chooses us for now
the political climate is not right for
cooperation to flourish between downing
street and the eu
and that will mean more of an
arms-length relationship than the prime
minister who fathered brexit ever
anticipated
slightly better attended press
conference than some of the ones i've
done over the last six years
but you're all very welcome thank you
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you