Raab Confident U.K. Can Solve Brexit to Biden’s Satisfaction
Raab ‘Confident’ U.K. Can Resolve Brexit to Biden’s Satisfaction
(Bloomberg) -- Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he’s “confident” the U.K. will be able to resolve Brexit issues relating to Northern Ireland and played down fears Britain’s split from the European Union will sour relations with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.
Raab said Sunday Boris Johnson’s government has reassured Biden’s team the U.K. has “no intention of imperiling” Ireland’s peace process and the Good Friday agreement, and has committed not to put up any infrastructure on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He said he’s hopeful a trade agreement can be struck with the EU this week -- though he reiterated that key differences remain on fisheries and regulations.
“What the Americans will be looking for will be the opportunities of the future,” Raab told the BBC, noting the Brexit transition period will have ended -- with or without a trade deal with the EU -- by the time Biden takes office in January. “They’re looking at opportunities for multilateral cooperation on Covid, on counter-terrorism, cyber’s a big thing, reinforcing the NATO alliance and of course climate change.”
But Raab’s assertion may be put to the test due to controversial legislation that seeks to rewrite the U.K.’s divorce agreement with the EU continues its rocky path through Parliament this week. In September, Biden said any future U.K.-U.S. trade deal would be contingent on preventing the return of a hard border in Ireland -- something Johnson’s move threatens to do.
“We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden said at the time on Twitter. “Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.”
“I’m confident we will navigate all of those issues sensitively, correctly,” Raab said Sunday.
Differences Remain
His comments came after Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used a phone call on Saturday to plot the way forward toward a Brexit deal, but warned that large differences still need to be bridged if there is to be an agreement.
The EU and U.K. have previously indicated that Nov. 15 is the very last moment a deal can be done if it is to be ratified by their respective parliaments before the post-Brexit transition period ends on Dec. 31 and the U.K. formally leaves the European single market.
A deal with the EU is “there to be done, the outlines are pretty clear,” Johnson told the Associated Press on Sunday. “We just need to get them to do it if we can.”
A statement from the U.K. echoed both the determination and the difficulties. Talks have been stuck for months on the key issues of the level playing field for business and access to British fishing waters.
‘Democratic Principle’
“There are some core interests at stake for the U.K., points of democratic principle around control of our laws, control of our fisheries as an independent coastal state,” Raab said. “I don’t think we can toss those aside. But if the EU shows the flexibility, the good will to meet us halfway, I am confident a deal can still be done.”
Johnson has long touted a free-trade accord with the U.S. as one of the key prizes of Brexit. He told the AP on Sunday he regards Brexit and the U.S. deal as two separate issues, and that he never expected a “complete pushover under any U.S. administration.” Still, “I think there’s a good chance we’ll do something,” he said.
The Internal Market Bill working its way through Parliament may risk undermining that goal. Though the plan contained within the bill to breach international law over Brexit is set to be overturned in a series of votes in the upper House of Lords on Monday, the government is expected to fight to keep the provisions when the legislation returns to the lower House of Commons.
The votes on Monday, during the so-called committee stage of the bill, come at a politically difficult time for Johnson as trade talks with the EU continue. The bloc is taking legal action against the U.K. over the draft law, and European leaders have demanded that Johnson drop the controversial clauses relating to trade with Northern Ireland as the price of any wider accord.
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