Britain missed three opportunities to be part of an EU scheme to bulk-buy masks, gowns and gloves and has been absent from key talks about future purchases, the Guardian can reveal, as pressure grows on ministers to protect NHS medics and care workers on the coronavirus frontline.
European doctors and nurses are preparing to receive the first of €1.5bn (£1.3bn) worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) within days or a maximum of two weeks through a joint procurement scheme involving 25 countries and eight companies, according to internal EU documents.
The EU’s swift work has led to offers of medical equipment, including masks, overalls and goggles, in excess of the number requested, a spokesman for the European commission said. The EU is separately establishing stockpiles within member states, with the first being set up in Romania.
The development comes as anger grows over PPE shortages in Britain, with particular concerns at the weekend over stocks of full-sleeve gowns running out. The gowns are designed to resist droplets which can spread coronavirus and were shown to be highly effective at protecting medics in Italy.
A survey by the Doctors’ Association UK found that only 52% of clinicians carrying out the highest-risk procedures said they had access to the correct full-sleeve gowns, while the Guardian understands that a consignment of at least 100,000 gowns from China had to be rejected when it was found to be substandard. Other consignments thought to be gowns had been mislabelled and were other equipment.
On Monday Dominic Raab, acknowledged PPE shortages – rather than distribution issues only – for the first time.
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Four in 10 of the 165,000 Europeans stranded around the world amid the pandemic are UK nationals but the British government has organised fewer EU-funded emergency flights than any other major country, the Guardian can reveal.
The UK has chartered just six flights via the EU crisis scheme, bringing 1,000 Britons home. Germany, in comparison, has organised 101 such flights through the programme, repatriating a total of 21,815 of its citizens with EU cash.
About 65,000 UK nationals around the world are still in need of repatriation compared to “several thousand” German nationals, according to figures obtained by the Guardian.
A Foreign Office spokesman did not deny the accuracy of the data, which was shared by the UK with foreign consulates earlier this week.
Behind-schedule negotiations restart via videolink
The Scottish government has called on Boris Johnson to extend the Brexit transition period by two years, as stalled trade talks restart.
EU and UK negotiators are finally returning to negotiations using videoconferencing, after several rounds of planned in-person talks were cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic.
But with the timescale to get a trade deal by the end of the year already looking heroic, the government is coming under increasing pressure to extend the period before Britain will be dumped out of the single market.
"The benefits of co-ordinated European action have never been clearer," Michael Russell, Scotland's cabinet secretary for Europe, said.
"An extended transition will keep the UK as close as possible to the EU and provide an opportunity to re-think the future relationship."
He said the "UK government should today be asking the EU for the maximum two-year extension to the transition period".
If the UK does not negotiate a free trade agreement by New Year when the transition ends it will revert to WTO terms, which are expected to be economically damaging. During the transition the UK follows EU rules and continues free movement.
The ability to extend the transition period was kept in the withdrawal agreement by Boris Johnson, but the government claims it will not use the provision.
Last week the prime minister's spokesperson said the government would not ask to extend the transition period and would reject any overtures by the EU, though none have yet arrived.
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Both sides have exchanged legal texts for proposed agreements, though only the EU side has made its public, with the UK insisting on secrecy.
Both Michel Barnier and David Frost are among officials who had to spend time self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms, further holding up proceedings.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of pro-EU campaign Best for Britain said: "Given the huge amount of harm being done by the virus to the economy and the country's health, most people will be wondering why the government is splitting its focus to conduct Brexit talks.
"Right now there is no bigger priority than coronavirus, and nothing should be distracting the government's attention.
"That is particularly the case for these talks, which can be extended to give both the UK and the EU room for manoeuvre.
"The government must unchain itself from the 31 December transition exit date so that it has the ability to properly focus on ridding the country of coronavirus."
Leaked German government report shows Britain has been requestng special access
The British government is making impossible demands over access to Europol databases in the negotiations over the future relationship with the EU, according to a leaked assessment of the UK’s position drawn up by the German government.
As talks between the two sides resumed via video calls this week, Britain’s negotiators not only refused to extend the transition period because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also stated the UK side’s eagerness to continue taking part in EU-wide data-sharing arrangements and even expanding their reach.
According to a German government report on the UK’s position in the Brexit talks, seen by the Guardian, Britain wants to “approximate the position of a member state as closely as possible” when it comes to working with Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.
This included a desire to continue to access Europol’s central intelligence database (EIS) – a wish the German report, summarising the EU’s position, described as “not possible”.
Other data-sharing schemes the UK had expressed an interest in included the Schengen Information System (SIS II), a database used by European border control agencies that includes around 90m entries, as well as a vast collection of air passenger data (PNR), which British negotiators have proposed extending to cover those travelling on boats and by rail.
Britain’s request for special access to these databases has been met with particularly vocal opposition in Germany, which has until now been seen as a more moderating influence in the negotiations but where data protection is a highly sensitive topic.
Christian Petry, spokesperson for European affairs for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) that forms the German government with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, told the Guardian he was “very critical” of British claims to levels of control and influence on security affairs usually reserved for members of the EU and the passport-free Schengen zone.
“The Brexiteers have always disparaged the EU as undemocratic,” Petry said. “To now dictate to the EU as a third country how we should organise our inner security, that would indeed be undemocratic. It would not only be ‘cherry-picking on speed’, but set a fatal precedent. With what arguments could we respond to wishes from other states with similar ideas?”
The German Green party said Britain could only hope to take part in data-sharing schemes if it accepted the EU’s standards for data protection, and therefore the jurisdiction of the European court of justice.
“Otherwise we are endangering the basic rights of our citizens, which is not something we can tolerate,” said Franziska Brantner of the German Greens, who are currently second in polls to Merkel’s CDU. “Rights also come with responsibilities”.
UK officials have argued in the negotiations that they are making a pragmatic offer of strong cooperation and that a refusal to engage with the proposals will lead to a mutual loss in capability to fight crime and terrorism.
Sources suggested that those who claimed the UK was trying to attain the benefits of membership while outside the EU were misrepresenting the British position.
The UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, has repeatedly emphasised that his stance builds on relationships the EU has with other so-called “third countries” not in the bloc.
But some German politicians are particularly indignant at the idea that the UK could continue to take part in the Schengen Information System (SIS), since the decision to allow Britain to take part in the scheme five years ago has already proven controversial.
A 2018 report by the Council of the European Union found that the UK was making improper use of the database by illegally copying classified personal information and sharing it with US companies.
“It is nothing short of brazen by the British government to want to take part in Europe’s largest police database in spite of repeatedly breaking its rules,” said Andrej Hunko, a spokesman on European affairs for Die Linke, the German left party.
“Instead, the commission must initiate an immediate expulsion from SIS, as officials in Great Britain still refuse to address a list of deficiencies compiled by the European commission in January.” Hunko said his party would “put up resistance” against the British proposals in Germany and at an EU level.
EU officials said the last week of negotiations covering trade, police and judicial cooperation and governance of the future relationship, had not made any significant progress. “There is a chasm,” said the source.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is expected to offer an uncompromising view when he speaks to reporters on Friday.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The safety and security of our citizens is the government’s top priority and we are working closely with the European Union to reach an agreement on law enforcement and criminal justice cooperation in criminal matters that works for both of us.
“The agreement should equip operational partners on both sides with the capabilities that help protect citizens and bring criminals to justice – promoting the security of all our citizens.”
Over five days and 40 video sessions, 10 teams will try to ‘refocus’ on future relationship
Brexit talks on the future relationship between the UK and the EU resumed this week after a six-week interruption caused by coronavirus.
Over five days and 40 video sessions, 10 negotiating teams were expected to provide an urgent “refocus” before the 30 June deadline for both sides to formally agree to extend the transition period if the UK asks for one.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s lead negotiator, will host a press conference at noon on Friday in Brussels to give updates, but his team were told on Monday that Boris Johnson was not budging on the issue of the extensions.
Barnier’s opposite number, David Frost, opened the first plenary session by “reiterating the government wish not to extend the transition period and that the job could be done by the end of the year”.
Some observers said the UK government’s position that an extension is not necessary was astonishing given the depth of the coronavirus crisis.
Philip Rycroft, a former chief civil servant at the now defunct Brexit department, told Prospect magazine: “It is simple common sense to ask for an extension of the transition period.”
Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform thinktank, believes an extension is inevitable but Johnson has “no incentive” to seek one until June, the deadline for a one-off UK request.
“A free-trade agreement could still be agreed but it would be hard to implement. Even if we were coming to the end of this pandemic by then, businesses will be not be prepared,” said Lowe, who described himself as optimistic that a free-trade deal could be done by the end of the year, albeit a poor one.
This week’s talks centred solely on the future relationship. A separate strand of work is under way on the implementation of the withdrawal agreement signed off in January.
Here is an overview of who is involved in the discussions and what areas are covered.
Joint committee
Featuring Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Maroš Šefčovič, a European commission vice-president, the committee met for the first time on 30 March and will make decisions on recommendations made by civil servants who will staff six specialised committees.
Those committees cover the Northern Ireland protocol; citizens’ rights; British sovereign army bases in Cyprus, the divorce bill, Gibraltar and “other separation issues”. Who is on the committees, how often they will meet and precisely what they will be exploring has yet to be disclosed.
Northern Ireland checks
The Ireland Northern Ireland specialised committee (INISC) will meet for the first time on 30 April. The Cabinet Office has confirmed that the INISC will be “comprised of official-level representatives of the EU and the UK” and will “meet as regularly as required to facilitate engagement between the UK and the EU on protocol implementation”.
A working group will also be set up to feed into the committee. TheCabinet Office says it will act “as a forum for the exchange of information and mutual consultation” on implementation. So expect industry bodies and experts to be asked to submit to this group.
The remaining specialised committees have not yet been scheduled.
Jess Sargeant, a researcher at the Institute for Government thinktank, said the INISC was likely to make recommendations to the joint committee. One urgent task is to look at what goods will be subject to tariffs when crossing the Irish Sea using data on trade journeys and the goods “at risk” of entering the single market by crossing the border into the Republic of Ireland.
Border inspection posts
The location of border inspection posts for controls on goods crossing the Irish Sea has yet to be decided, unsurprisingly given Johnson has insisted there would be no checks. The EU would prefer posts to be located in places such as the ports of Liverpool and Cairnryan in Scotland.
Fisheries
This is one of the most contentious areas and the EU has said there will be no deal unless agreed in outline by June. The chances of progress in this week’s talks have been hampered by the failure of the UK to issue a legal text giving detail to how it envisages its new status as an independent coastal state to work. The EU issued text for all areas but the UK issued a partial text. “This means the text the negotiating teams will be discussing is the EU’s text, not the UK’s,” a source said.
Customs
Gove told parliament as recently as February that the UK needed an army of 50,000 customs agents to deal with cross-border trade from January 2021. It seem unlikely much progress has been made here.
Immigration
The immigration bill, which would have closed the borders to low-paid unskilled workers from January, has been shelved, the leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, announced this week. Few believe the government can forge ahead with a change of public attitude to foreign low-paid workers in social care, health, retail and agriculture.
Hauliers
The Road Haulage Association has called for the transition period to be extended. It says the industry is on life support.
“We are totally focused on coronavirus and our position is there is a real need for a delay to Brexit talks. Our industry is struggling to survive with more than 70% saying they face going to the wall within 12 weeks,” said Rod McKenzie, head of policy and public affairs.
He said a survey of 4,500 hauliers found half of drivers were inactive and 50% of trucks parked up.
EU negotiator expresses frustrations at UK refusal to discuss key issues of transition
Michel Barnier has suggested the UK is running down the clock in talks over the future trade and security relationship with the EU.
The claim by the bloc’s chief negotiator during a virtual press conference at the end of a difficult week of videoconference talks was swiftly denied by the government.
A UK spokesman instead openly questioned the value of the deal being offered by Brussels when compared with a no-deal outcome.
“We regret that the detail of the EU’s offer on goods trade falls well short of recent precedent in free trade agreements it has agreed with other sovereign countries,” the spokesman said. “This considerably reduces the practical value of the zero-tariff, zero-quota aspiration we both share.”
After five days of videoconference talks, involving a total of 100 officials, the prospects of an agreement by the end of the year seemed remote as the two sides emerged from the negotiations to attack each other.
Barnier appeared exasperated by the British team, led by David Frost, who has said the UK will leave the single market and customs union with or without a deal by the end of the year.
He accused the UK of preventing progress in the talks, adding it was unacceptable to “impose this short, brief timeline, and at the same time not budge or make progress on some topics that are of importance to the EU”.
“The UK cannot refuse to extend the transition, and at the same time slow down discussions on important areas,” Barnier said.
Asked whether the EU could request an extension if the British did not, Barnier said it was not up to one side to be the “demandeur” (seeker), but it had to be a common decision for both parties before 30 June, as stated in the withdrawal agreement.
“It’s too early from our side to express an opinion on this subject,” Barnier said, adding that the European commission would assess the situation in early June. The transition can be extended by up to one or two years by mutual agreement.
The two negotiating teams have been conducting only the second full week of structured talks since the UK left the EU on 31 January. A UK spokesman confirmed there had been “limited progress” and criticised the failure of the EU to recognise the British government’s red lines. Barnier in turn cited four areas where progress had been “disappointing”, including on a deal for future trade in goods.
Barnier said the EU’s offer of zero-tariff, zero-quota access to its market in exchange for respecting social, environmental standards and state aid rules would give the UK unprecedented access to the European market.
But he said the UK had “failed to engage substantially on this topic” and had even “denounced” the basic premise of fair competition.
“It argued that our positions are too far to reach an agreement,” Barnier said. “It also denounced the basic premise that economic interconnectedness and geographic proximity require robust guarantees.”
Throwing back the often-repeated words of British negotiators, Barnier noted the disparity in size between the two sides.
“The UK negotiators keep repeating that we are negotiating as sovereign equals,” Barnier said. “That’s fine, but the reality of the negotiations is to find the best possible relationship between a market of 66 million consumers on the one side of the channel and the market of 450 million consumers on the other side. That is the reality.”
Barnier added that devising such level playing field commitments had been agreed as a necessity “with Boris Johnson in our joint political declaration”, ratified at the time as the withdrawal agreement.
Boris Johnson is expected to push for an intervention from EU leaders in the faltering trade and security negotiations with the bloc after being warned by advisers that the current talks are on course to fail.
There is recognition on both sides of the talks that there is little prospect of agreement on the most contentious issues without a major reset of positions.
With the prime minister set to return to Downing Street on Monday, Johnson is expected to press the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and EU nation governments to dedicate attention to the negotiation with the British government.
Sources suggested that there would need to be a rethink over the next fortnight in order to rescue the negotiation. The UK will leave the single market and customs union at the end of 2020, after which tariffs will be applied to the trade in goods unless there is a deal agreed.
Both sides have said they need to see progress by June, with Downing Street warning that they may need to walk away from the talks at that point to prepare solely for a no-deal outcome.
There are just two scheduled rounds of video-conference talks, and senior sources on both sides said these were not likely to deliver a deal, due to principled differences as well as the difficulties presented by the technology.
“You don’t see all the faces of the people around the table; you don’t see the body language, you cannot have discussion in the margins”, an EU official said. “But having said that, this is how we are working now; we need to make the best of it.”
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his British counterpart, David Frost, came out fighting from last week’s round of talks on the future relationship, only the second since the UK left the EU on 31 January.
Barnier accused the UK of not engaging with key issues of particular importance to the EU, including access to British waters for European fishing fleet and the so-called level playing field conditions to ensure neither side can undercut environmental, labour and social standards.
EU sources added that UK officials “listened politely” to their proposals but did not seek to negotiate on them. “I regret it, and this worries me”, Barnier told reporters at a press conference at the end of last week’s talks.
The British negotiating team has rejected the claim, instead questioning the value of the deal being proposed by Brussels, which would tie the UK to EU regulations while also constructing significant non-tariff barriers on trade.
Whitehall sources said there was a difference between not engaging and simply disagreeing with the EU approach. There is a particular frustration on the UK side that the EU has rejected proposals to remove unnecessary technical barriers to trade, including some sanitary and phytosanitary checks on animal products, despite British commitments to maintain high standards and there being precedent in previous trade deals.
On security cooperation, the UK has argued in the negotiating room that the EU’s offer is based on existing deals but comes with unprecedented obligations, including a direct role for the European court of justice in dispute settlements: a red line for Downing Street.
Two areas in which there have been better talks are civil nuclear cooperation and UK involvement in EU programmes. “The UK has expressed interest in participating in [the research and science programme] Horizon, for example”, said an EU official. “So there’s certainly some useful discussions ongoing in this area.”
However, there is growing concern about the UK’s implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which was designed to avoid a border on the island of Ireland.
The protocol requires checks on goods passing from Britain to Northern Ireland. “You need to have customs checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland, veterinary controls, a VAT system needs to be put in place”, said an EU official.
The two sides are expected to have a stock check on 30 April at the next meeting of the joint committee, the body established to ensure implementation of the provisions in the withdrawal agreement.
Frost has ruled out an extension of the transition period. The UK believes there is ample time to agree and ratify a free-trade deal if the EU changes its position.
“We’ve seen the way that during the Covid-19 crisis some of the principles of the European Union have been set aside very prudently by the EU to enable member states to take the appropriate steps required, and we have seen both on restrictions of border movements and also on economic interventions actions by individual member states, national governments, which in ordinary time the EU would have found difficult to countenance.”
In fact, the EU’s Schengen treaty that abolishes border controls already contains provisions for temporary border controls in the name of public health or national security. They were previously used on a widespread basis as recently as the refugee crisis.
Clashes expected over plan which Britain says would sow division in Northern Ireland
Brussels and UK officials will clash over the increasingly fraught question of whether the European Union can open an office in Belfast.
At the inaugural meeting on Thursday of a special committee of officials charged with enforcing a de facto Irish Sea border, the European commission is expected to press the case to open “a technical office” in Belfast, three days after the government rejected an EU “mini-embassy” in the Northern Irish capital.
The EU is refusing to drop the issue, amid fears Boris Johnson’s government could renege on the Brexit withdrawal agreement that requires Northern Ireland to follow EU single market and customs rules.
The British government, which says it is fully committed to the agreement, argues an EU office is not necessary and would sow division in Northern Irish politics.
A narrow majority of Northern Irish MPs, it has emerged, back the EU plan for a Belfast office. Ten of 18 MPs elected to Westminster reject the government’s argument, including Sinn Fein, who do not take their seats. The Democratic Unionist party, who make up the remaining eight, support the government, whose position was outlined by the paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, on Monday.
In a letter to senior EU officials including the chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, Mordaunt said a special EU office would be “divisive in political and community terms” and was not required by the Irish protocol agreed last October.
Stephen Farry, the Alliance MP for North Down, accused the government of being petty and counterproductive. “This gamesmanship from the UK government is reflective of their wider approach of not taking preparations for the implementation of the protocol seriously,” he said.
Other MPs supporting the Belfast office see the EU presence as important to guarantee the rights of Northern Irish citizens, who have the right to hold both British and Irish citizenship under the Good Friday agreement. Anyone with Irish citizenship is automatically an EU citizen.
This argument does not chime with how Brussels views the office, which it conceives as narrowly focused on upholding single market rules, staffed by vets and customs experts. The office would not have an ambassador nor engage in diplomatic niceties such as lunches and cocktail parties.
The Irish protocol, agreed after months of bitter wrangling that helped end Theresa May’s government, leaves Northern Ireland de facto in the EU single market, following about 280 EU laws covering animal health, food safety and VAT, as well as the EU customs code.
The protocol specifies UK officials are responsible for implementing EU law, but EU officials have the right to be present during any activities related to putting it into practice. It does not specify the right to an EU office.
Mairead McGuinness, an Irish vice-president of the European parliament, said Northern Ireland would be “particularly affected by EU decisions” and an office could enable better understanding on both sides. “Belfast is perhaps more neutral than having such an office, tasked with overseeing the protocol’s implementation in Northern Ireland, in Dublin or London.”
The government says it is ready to support ad hoc visits, but the EU argues it would be impractical for officials based overseas to be routinely flying in.
The argument will be revisited on Thursday when officials on the Irish “specialised committee” meet for the first time, one of six technical groups on implementing the Brexit withdrawal agreement, who report to the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, and the European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.
Gove and Šefčovič co-chair the “joint committee”, the political management in charge of implementing the withdrawal agreement.
The Guardian has learned that the Irish specialised committee will be co-chaired by Brendan Threlfall, a former deputy director for Ireland and Northern Ireland at the defunct Brexit department.
Threlfall, who is said to be close to Gove, stepped into the Brexit role in 2018 after the lead official tasked with finding a solution to the Irish border quit for a new job working for Prince William.
The EU co-chair will be Philippe Bertrand, who was Barnier’s lead negotiator on the Brexit taskforce for the divorce bill, agriculture, fisheries and maritime policy. He will alternate with Thomas Lieflaender, the deputy head of the European Commission’s Brexit team.
EU concerns about the British commitment to implementing the protocol escalated after Gove told the Brexit select committee on Monday that the joint committee was an opportunity to “develop” the protocol. The EU has always said the joint committee can only implement the withdrawal agreement.
UK’s last judicial member of the ECJ is to be replaced before scheduled end of her term
The UK’s last judicial member of the European court of justice is suing the council of the European Union and the EU court over her removal from office because of Brexit.
Eleanor Sharpston QC, advocate general to the court in Luxembourg, has lodged two claims challenging her replacement by a Greek lawyer before her term in office was scheduled to end next year.
Her departure will not necessarily end direct British involvement with the ECJ. A claim has been submitted by a team of London-based lawyers arguing that even though the UK as a nation is leaving the EU, its citizens cannot be deprived of EU citizenship without their consent.
Sharpston, whose mandate was due to end in October 2021, has submitted two claims – against the council of the European Union, which represents the remaining 27 EU states, and against the ECJ itself.
At the start of the year, Brussels issued a statement saying the mandates of all UK-related members of EU institutions would automatically end on 31 January. Sharpston was the exception to the rule and was told that she would stay on until a successor could take over.
A Greek replacement for her has now been found. The number of advocates general, who advise the court’s judges, is fixed at 11.
A fellow of King’s College, Cambridge and a former joint head of chambers in London, Sharpston has been at the ECJ since 2006. Earlier this year, contemplating the possibility of legal action, she told the Law Gazette: “It may be that the very last service I can render to my court is to see whether there is something I can do to push back against the member states intruding into the court’s autonomy and independence.”
She is understood to be arguing that she should be be allowed to stay in office until her current six-year term expires and that her removal undermines the judicial independence of the court. Court rules, it is said, ensure that judges and advocate generals can only be removed when they reach the end of their mandate or reach the obligatory retirement age.
The ECJ told the Guardian it could not confirm the identity of claimants in the two cases submitted. The court’s last British judge, Christopher Vajda, lost his seat in February despite the UK remaining within the single market and customs union until the end of 2020. There are 27 judges sitting on the ECJ – one for every member state.
A separate action legal action has been lodged at the ECJ this month by lawyers acting for Prof Joshua Silver, a physicist at Oxford University. The claim is being led by Prof Takis Tridimas of Matrix Chambers and lawyers from the London firm DAC Beachcroft.
They argue that while the withdrawal agreement between the UK government and the EU has resulted in the UK as a nation leaving the EU, the fundamental status and rights of the British citizens of the European Union cannot be removed without their consent.
Stephen Hocking, a partner at DAC Beachcroft, said: “In the withdrawal agreement, the EU council purported to remove fundamental individual rights from a group of citizens of the European Union, namely UK nationals, without any due process and without any reference to them. In doing so it acted unlawfully.
“EU citizenship is a citizenship like any other, and it confers individual rights on citizens that cannot be taken away by an agreement between governments.”
If he is successful, UK citizens would retain their rights as EU citizens, for example the right to live and work in EU member states.
This week Guy Verhofstadt, the former Brexit coordinator for the European parliament, tweeted in support of the legal action: “People received European citizenship with the treaty of Maastricht. Will be interesting to see, if a government decides to leave, its citizens automatically lose their European citizenship. They shouldn’t do!”
The British government is quietly seeking access to the European Union’s pandemic warning system, despite early reluctance to cooperate on health after Brexit, the Guardian has learned.
The UK is seeking “something akin to membership” of the EU’s early warning and response system (EWRS), which has played a critical role in coordinating Europe’s response to the coronavirus, as well as to earlier pandemics such as bird flu. According to an EU source, this would be “pretty much the same” as membership of the system.
The government’s enthusiasm in the privacy of the negotiating room contrasts with noncommittal public statements. Detailed negotiating objectives published in February merely stated that the UK was “open to exploring cooperation between the UK and EU in other specific and narrowly defined areas where this is in the interest of both sides, for example on matters of health security”.
Health was not even mentioned in the government’s written statement to Parliament, aside from a reference to pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported on 1 March that No 10 had blocked the Department of Health’s request to be part of the EWRS.
A government spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the UK was seeking a form of membership or participation in the EWRS, but referred back to the February negotiating objectives.
In private, the coronavirus, which had claimed at least 26,771 lives in the UK by Thursday, appears to have altered government thinking.
“There was not much appetite from the UK at the beginning,” said the EU source, referring to cooperation on health. “That’s been corrected. They are keen and they are keen to be seen to be keen. Both sides want close cooperation.”
However, the EU is not prepared to offer the UK full membership of the EWRS, an online platform set up in 1998 where public authorities share information about health emergencies.
Instead, EU officials propose to “plug the UK into” the system when a pandemic emerges, similar to arrangements for other non-EU countries.
Health security does not feature in the UK negotiating text sent in private to the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, although EU officials have received a “non-paper” outlining government aims on health.
Warning comes as study finds cost of checks on Northern Ireland supermarket deliveries could exceed £100,000 per lorry
Brexit talks are hurtling to another crisis point unless progress is made in the next two rounds of talks, the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, has said.
His warning comes as industry analysis of deliveries from Britain to high-street supermarket chains in Northern Ireland found that firms could incur costs of more than £100,000 per lorry unless the special Brexit arrangements for the region were sorted out.
Brexit talks are hurtling to another crisis point unless progress is made in the next two rounds of talks, the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, has said.
His warning comes as industry analysis of deliveries from Britain to high-street supermarket chains in Northern Ireland found that firms could incur costs of more than £100,000 per lorry unless the special Brexit arrangements for the region were sorted out.
“Quite frankly, I can’t see how we will be ready by the end of the year. We have no clarity on how this protocol is going to work and it is May. We have seven months to get this sorted and not only have we had no guidance but we have had no conversations with government or Whitehall,” he said.
Under the protocol, there will be new controls and checks on goods entering the region from the rest of the UK in order to avoid checks on the border between Northern Ireland and the republic of Ireland.
NIRC calculated the cost of a truck delivering groceries to a household name supermarket in Northern Ireland.
About 1,400 product types were found to be on the truck, all of which, under the normal EU rules for trade with third countries, would require an entry summary declaration form, which would cost “between £15 and £56” per declaration or between £21,000 and £79,000 for the lorry load.
Of the 1,400 goods, 500 were food lines of animal or plant origin, which would require a health certificate at £200 each.
“All of this is the worst case scenario but it illustrates the scale of the problem. Our hope is that there is some sort of free-trade agreement or agreement of some sort that it won’t come to pass,” he said.
Seamus Leheny, the policy manager at the Freight Transport Association Northern Ireland, said the problem would be easily solved if “derogations and mitigations were put in place”.
But he said that since the deal was agreed last October, there had been no engagement on the detail and just general promises of “unfettered access”.
Business leaders in Northern Ireland have been asking for the revival of a working group that examined “alternative arrangements” for the Irish border at the now defunct Department for Exiting the EU to tease out the new rules for Northern Ireland.
“We have been asking for this since October and have heard nothing,” said Connolly.
Business leaders have also expressed frustration over the row about the UK rejecting an EU request to have an office presence in Belfast.
“It makes sense if the EU have a formal office. It means if something goes wrong, say in Belfast port, we can call them and have someone sort it out or investigate it locally rather than having to phone someone down in Dublin and get them to come up. They have just turned this into a political football,” said Leheny.
Cabinet office minister drops 'no compromise' stance, saying: 'If that is the price that we have to pay, then there we go'
The UK may accept the “price” of tariffs on goods to strike a trade deal with the EU, Michael Gove says – as he again insisted there would be no extension to the Brexit transition period beyond 31 December.
The charges would be “a missed opportunity”, the cabinet office minister, but added: “If that is the price that we have to pay, then there we go.”
Giving up on the demand for a 'zero-tariff, zero-quota' deal could be acceptable to secure the prize of breaking free of EU rules, he told a parliamentary inquiry.
The comments come after government sources insisted the EU would have to give way to rescue a deal, attacking Brussels for refusing to accept the UK’s “sovereignty”.
But Mr Gove acknowledged the UK might “end up like Canada with tariff on a possible number of goods” – billing the move as a compromise Brussels might accept.
The UK was “prepared to modify our ask”, to regain autonomy over ‘level playing field’ regulations on workers and the environment. “It is one of the ways in which we would be prepared to show leg,” he said.
During the evidence given to the Lords EU committee, Mr Gove also:
* Insisted the EU would fail if it asked the UK for a transition extension, saying: “We think it would be in nobody’s interest. I can’t imagine anything other than no.”
* Admitted there will be border checks in the Irish Sea – after Boris Johnson repeatedly denied it – but refused to reveal details.
* Agreed the UK would be at risk of any Donald Trump trade war if the transition was extended, saying: “Precisely so, precisely right.”
* Insisted there would be no medicine shortages if there is a no-deal Brexit at the end of 2020, arguing: “We have done the work already.”
* Hinted at “flexibility” that might extend the settled status scheme for EU citizens in the UK if necessary, because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Gove’s comments hinted at the UK’s approach at a high-level meeting in June – the last before the deadline for any request to extend the transition.
A carbon copy of the EU's trade deal with Canada would involve accepting tariffs and quotas, including on agricultural goods.
However, it would still appear to leave the two sides far apart, with the EU demanding an agreement on fishing rights first, as well as the UK accepting level playing field commitments.
Earlier, Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister struck a gloomy note, saying: “Time is short and there's an awful lot to do.”
Mr Johnson sparked a huge row by refusing to accept Irish Sea checks, saying in December: “There will be no checks on goods from GB to Northern Ireland or Northern Ireland to GB.”
But Mr Gove acknowledged the need for controls – in both directions – while declining to set out exactly how they would work, even the clock ticking down to 31 December, when they will be needed.
“I don’t think you have answered any of my questions!” protested Lord Kerr, the peer who drafted the Article 50 process.
Norwegian Trade Minister Iselin Nybø wants to speed up the process of hammering out a new trade deal with Great Britain when it leaves the EU at the end of the year. Preliminary sessions were beginning this week at the administrative level, with Norway’s European Economic Area colleagues Iceland and Liechtenstein taking part as well.
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A new trade agreement with Great Britain must be in place by New Year, since Johnson’s government opposes any extension of the current deadlines. “We’re well-prepared and ready to meet whenever that can be,” Nybø told news bureau NTB.
Talks at the political level may commence by early June. She’s not afraid Norway will land far down the line of countries needing new trade deals with a post-Brexit Britain: “We have very good relations with the British. This is an agreement that’s important for both sides to get into place.”
This Europe Day we send a message of solidarity and friendship to British people
The UK may no longer be an EU member but, as the current health crisis shows, cooperation continues to be essential
On Saturday, for the first time in almost 50 years, we observe Europe Day without the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Union. As ambassadors and high commissioners representing the EU and its 27 countries in the UK, we are nonetheless very keen to mark the date with all the citizens of this great country and with the millions of EU nationals who live and work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We celebrate Europe on 9 May because on this same day in 1950, exactly 70 years ago, in the aftermath of the devastating second world war, Robert Schuman, the Luxembourg-born foreign minister of France, laid the foundations of our collective endeavour. He said then: “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.”
Since then, Schuman’s dream has come gradually to fruition, enabling many countries and millions of Europeans to enjoy freedom, democracy, fundamental rights and high standards of living, in what historians will register as the longest period of peace in our part of the world for many centuries.
After progressively enlarging its scope, both politically and geographically, the EU became the biggest single market and the most important provider of development and humanitarian aid in the world, a true global actor committed to effective multilateralism. With almost half a billion citizens, it brings together peoples and nations from all over Europe who are proud of their history and culture but know they will be stronger together. It is telling that this year, we also mark the 25th anniversary of the accession to the union of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and the 40th anniversary of the historic Solidarity movement in Poland.
All this and much more is what we are proudly celebrating today. We do so while looking forward, with confidence, to the future of our union, focused on finding a common way out of the health emergency, ensuring an inclusive economic recovery and building the foundations for sustainable development in Europe and around the world.
The United Kingdom made a significant contribution to European achievements before and during its 47 years of membership of the European Union. It is thus only natural for us to celebrate Europe Day also with the British people, its workers and entrepreneurs, its researchers, its teachers and scholars, its artists, its farmers and fishermen, its doctors and nurses. Today, our thoughts go out particularly to the victims of Covid-19 and their families and to all of the dedicated care and frontline workers around the country.
The current unprecedented health emergency has brought us closer together – within each of our countries and among the 27, as well as between all of us in the EU and our British friends. We all know that Covid-19 spares no one – no family, no country. We all know that only together will we be able to overcome it.
In our cities, towns and villages, on both sides of the Channel, we have been witnessing an outpouring of dedication, kindness and altruism. It should not come as a surprise: solidarity is indeed part of our DNA, in the European Union as in the United Kingdom. EU nationals employed by the NHS have worked tirelessly, side by side with their British colleagues, to save lives since the outbreak of the pandemic.
An EU repatriation programme helped almost 2,000 British citizens stranded around the globe to return home safely. British flights did the same for EU citizens. These examples illustrate how the most challenging situations bring to the fore the best in each of us, as the Queen so eloquently highlighted in her broadcast to the nation on 5 April.
A democratic decision, which we regret but fully respect, was made by the United Kingdom to leave the EU. We are now implementing the transitional provisions of the withdrawal agreement while negotiating the terms of our future relations. For anyone who may have doubted that a close future partnership between the UK and the EU is of mutual interest, the ongoing health emergency has certainly provided ample food for thought.
Indeed, in today’s globalised, interconnected and interdependent world, cooperation among nations and states – and peoples – is essential. A good example is what the UK and Italy are doing together on the climate crisis, in jointly ensuring that the Cop26 conference delivers a high level of global ambition to overcome this major challenge for mankind. Another is the ongoing global pledge to finance treatment and vaccination against Covid-19, of which the EU and the UK are major sponsors.
We believe that cooperation and solidarity among countries, with full respect for sovereignty and diversity, are key factors in overcoming today’s challenges, starting with the present health emergency. We trust that these principles will also inspire the future relationship between the UK and the EU – and that is the friendly message that, as a united group of 28 ambassadors and high commissioners, we would like to convey to the British people on this Europe Day.
