Poland’s nationalist government is seeking to
persuade the EU to be more open to the UK’s Brexit plans as Jeremy Hunt said he had so far seen scant evidence
of any hopeful movement from Brussels on the Chequers proposals.
The British foreign secretary, meeting his EU
counterparts in Vienna, downplayed any suggestion that recent comments from the
EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, offered any indication of a
softening of the bloc’s resistance to the UK’s proposals.
The value of the pound rose on Thursday
after Barnier repeated his oft-stated hopes of a deal with the UK, interpreted
by some as a sign that Brussels was responding to British lobbying in favour of
a more generous deal on future trade.
Hunt, however, offered a sceptical note on
Thursday. “It’s going to be a very long, hard road ahead. Obviously, when there
do appear to be signs of a change then that is encouraging, but I don’t think
you can read too much into these,” he said.
Austria’s foreign minister, Karin Kneissl, also
dismissed the suggestion that the EU was ready to rethink its current position,
which rules out key tenets of the Chequers proposals,
including frictionless trade for goods across
the Channel.
“I think we still have to stick to the directives
which were drafted in March 2017, namely the negotiating is all done by Michel Barnier,” she said. “So when you
speak of a more generous offer, it can only be within the [room for manoeuvre]
of Commissioner Barnier and his counterpart, the British government.”
The Polish foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz,
offered the British foreign secretary some hope, however, telling reporters
that he would try to persuade his fellow ministers to shift their position,
following an intense period of lobbying by British ministers in EU capitals in favour
of the white paper on the future trading relationship.
Asked whether a more generous deal could be offered
by the EU, Czaputowicz, whose party has been in a long-running row with the
European commission over the country’s judicial changes and
is facing unprecedented disciplinary action, told reporters: “I think that we
have to discuss that issue. We are very pleased, Poland, that the white paper
was presented. It is a good base for discussion.
“Poland is in favour of maintaining relations with
UK after Brexit, so we will argue for [a] good deal
for both sides. I think it is possible. But definitely we will encourage, I
will encourage my partners within the EU, to be more open to arguments of the
UK.”
The struggle to get other member states onboard was
nevertheless made clear by comments from other EU ministers in Vienna and
Berlin, where Barnier was in talks with the German government.
Annika Söder, the Swedish foreign secretary,
suggested her central hope was that opinion on Brexit was changing in the UK
in favour of a second referendum. “You know that we wanted to keep you and we look at
the polls and we see that there may be some hesitation,” she said.
“We hope that we can find a way forward to have a
soft Brexit, because a hard Brexit wouldn’t serve anyone, but still – and this
may be not very polite – we hope that there can be a solution where the UK will
still be in the European Union. “Negotiations are important and Barnier and his
team are working hard to find a good solution, so we will not give up on a soft
Brexit, even if that tiny hope is still there.”
The German economic affairs minister, Peter
Altmaier, issued a statement following his meeting with Barnier reiterating
Germany’s support for the EU negotiator and the guidelines offering the UK a
free-trade deal, which Downing Street has already dismissed as lacking the
necessary ambition to maintain economic prosperity on both sides of the
Channel.