European officials see more clarity in PM’s Brexit speech but warn proposals to turn UK into tax haven will create a ‘disagreeable situation’

European leaders have given a cautious welcome to Theresa May’s speech, while sounding warnings on what they perceived as the prime minister’s threat to undermine the EU on tax if the UK is shut off from the single market.



Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, summed up May’s speech in a tweet: “Sad process, surrealistic times, but at least more realistic announcement on Brexit. EU27 united and ready to negotiate after article 50.”

But, while many welcomed the additional clarity brought by elements of the speech, some European officials were sceptical about May’s ability to follow through on her promise for the UK to be “a great, global trading nation”.

Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) Sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement on #Brexit. EU27 united and ready to negotiate after Art. 50.

An Italian government official said he doubted the UK could be as strong outside the EU as it was within it. “Good luck on being a ‘Global Britain’,” he said.

EU institutions have refused to negotiate with the UK until the government triggers article 50, a position reiterated after May’s speech. Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, who had been briefed on the speech, is due to speak to May later on Tuesday.

In the aftermath of the speech, Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, stressed Berlin would prioritise the cohesion of the EU over national economic interests during negotiations.

“We welcome that the British prime minister today sketched out her government’s ideas about its departure and at last created a bit more clarity about the British plans,” said Steinmeier, who is set to take over as Germany’s president next month. “She has underlined that Great Britain is seeking a positive and constructive partnership, a friendship, with a strong EU. That is good,” he added.

Steinmeier said a Brexit committee made up of key German ministers would meet for the first time on Wednesday and vote to set priorities for the upcoming negotiations.

Sandro Gozi, Italy’s undersecretary for European affairs, also welcomed the clarity and said: “It is now finally clear what they want: they want to leave for good and they want a full Brexit.”

Poland’s minister for European affairs, Konrad Szymański, welcomed May’s indication that securing a deal on the rights of EU citizens in Britain – and British citizens in the EU – was “the right and fair thing to do”.

“We are convinced that EU citizens residing in the UK should be treated equally and keep the rights regarding employment, access to public services and social security systems,” he said.

Szymański called on May to make sure any deal was “very precise and legally binding so as to provide maximum clarity for our citizens in all possible situations”.

He also said Poland would insist that any plans to control immigration to the UK “must be proportionate and ensure fair treatment of all EU citizens regardless of their professional profiles”.

The Irish government, meanwhile, welcomed May’s commitment to maintaining the pre-EU common travel area between Britain and Ireland as well as her promise that there would be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

May will meet the taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in Dublin later this month to discuss areas of common interest.

But some politicians and commentators on the continent were more critical of some aspects of May’s speech, especially the perceived threat to turn Britain into a tax haven if it were to find itself shut off from the single market.

Philippe Lamberts, the co-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European parliament, described the speech as “a slap in the face for those who want to establish the new UK-EU relationship in a way that would preserve not only economic co-operation, but many other positive elements of the European social, environmental and legal acquis.”

He added: “It also risks painful consequences for the British people, many of whom would suffer deeply under a low-tax, low-regulation agenda.”

In her speech, May warned that a punitive deal for Britain would constitute a “calamitous act of self-harm” that would force the country to undermine European economic interests.

Charles de Marcilly, head of the Robert Schuman Foundation, said if May was set on establishing Britain as a tax domain, she would create a “disagreeable” situation for the EU in which nobody wins. “We must be careful; we could think that Theresa May has the cards in her hand, but there will be the reaction of other European states. If we go in that direction we risk having a Brexit that is a lose-lose situation.”

He said neither the UK nor the EU had any interest in harming each other. “It would not be in the EU’s interest to have a failing state at its border. It is losing its second largest economy so it’s a kind of amputation for the EU.”

Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) I regret the approach the UK government has taken. I think most of the EU would have preferred a closer relationship with the UK. #wef17

Other commentators such as former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt saw the speech as “a retreat from Europe”. “Theresa May speech indicates that UK is seeking something slightly less than the Ukraine DCFTA agreement with the EU,” he wrote on Twitter. “I regret the approach the UK government has taken. I think most of the EU would have preferred a closer relationship with the UK.”

Additional reporting by Kim Willsher in Paris and Henry McDonald in Dublin





