Ahead of EU Summit in Salzburg British Prime Minister tells Europeans to match London’s compromises. Arguments made against her Chequers plan to separate goods and services are at odds with other trade talks, she writes in an op-ed for WELT.

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This week in Salzburg, EU leaders will discuss the UK’s proposals for our future relationship with the European Union.

A lot has been said about what the UK is asking for, so I want people to hear directly from me about what I am trying to achieve and the motivation behind it.

The relationship between the UK and the EU will change profoundly with Brexit, but I am determined that we should still have the strongest possible economic and security partnership after the UK has left, because I believe that is in the best interests of all our citizens.

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We will still be neighbours, we are still all part of the European family of nations and we all still champion the same beliefs. We all stand for freedom, democracy and the rule of law, underpinned by a rules-based global order – in a world in which these are increasingly under threat.

At the same time, it is my task to deliver the democratic decision of British voters to leave the supranational institution of the EU. That, of course, has consequences. The UK’s market access to the EU will, for instance, be less than it is now. And the UK will no longer be in the EU’s Single Market, either in whole or partially.

We need the frictionless movement of goods

So the question before both the UK and the EU is how to achieve the UK’s departure from the EU while respecting both sides’ core interests and avoiding unnecessary damaging disruption.

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That question is sharpest in Northern Ireland and the needs of Northern Ireland have been an important factor in our solution. Any settlement must respect the Good Friday Agreement that is the basis for Northern Ireland’s constitutional order and peace and stability there, and must be able to command cross-community support. A hard border, either between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, would not do so.

To avoid a hard border we need the frictionless movement of goods. This is not the same thing as partial participation in the Single Market: British companies would not enjoy the same legal rights, for example.

So that frictionless movement is at the heart of the new proposals we put forward this summer. A UK-EU free trade area for goods and agricultural products, together with a business-friendly facilitated customs arrangement, would avoid the need for customs and regulatory checks at our shared borders and protect the uniquely integrated supply chains and just-in-time processes on which jobs and livelihoods across our countries depend. It is profoundly in both sides’ economic interest, it respects the integrity of the Single Market and, crucially, no one else has come up with a proposal that could command cross-community support in Northern Ireland that is the only true foundation for stability there.

Compromises on Brexit

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The UK has evolved its position to bring forward this plan. And this has meant compromises on the kind of Brexit some people in the UK hoped for: a common rule book on goods - and strong commitments on state aid, social and employment policy and the environment, to ensure that trade between the UK and the EU would be fair.

There have been arguments made against our proposals that have been at odds with the reality of trade negotiations elsewhere and indeed the current trading relationship between EU member states.

For instance it is said that goods and services cannot be separated. But no free trade agreement the EU has ever concluded treats goods and services on the same basis. And most of the relevant services for goods are not covered by EU regulation in any case.

Our commitments recognise that in future, when UK firms provide services into the EU, they will follow the same rules as firms in that EU Member State – meaning they simply cannot undercut EU service providers.

What we are proposing is a fair arrangement that will work for the EU’s economy as well as the UK’s, without undermining the Single Market. This would be balanced by a strong security relationship to keep all our citizens safe from threats at home and abroad. We are near to achieving the orderly withdrawal that is essential basis for building a close future partnership. We have already agreed the great bulk of the Withdrawal Treaty, including what matters most: ensuring that EU citizens settled in the UK and UK citizens in the EU can continue to live their lives broadly as before.

We must stay good friends

We will also honour our commitment to ensure that there is a legally operative Protocol on Northern Ireland, but that Protocol must protect the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and respects the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK, which the Commission's proposal does not.

To come to a successful conclusion, just as the UK has evolved its position, the EU will need to do the same. Neither side can demand the unacceptable of the other, such as an external customs border between different parts of the United Kingdom – which no other country would accept if they were in the same situation, or the UK seeking the rights of EU membership without the obligations.

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With goodwill and determination on both sides we can avoid a disorderly exit and find new ways of working together. In or out of the EU, we are still all part of our European family of nations and must stay good friends who support each other’s safety and prosperity.

The author is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom