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The German chancellor’s polite but firm “Nein” when the two leaders met in Berlin on November 18 dashed the British prime minister’s hopes of a quick informal deal to reassure expatriates on both sides of the Channel that they will not lose out when Britain leaves the EU, three people familiar with the matter said. [...]
A senior European Commission official had quietly encouraged the initiative in a private capacity, both to improve mutual understanding with London and to avoid any suggestion that European citizens were being taken hostages in the negotiations. If the EU were to say it was ready to safeguard the position of Britons living in Europe, it would gain the moral high ground in the talks, the argument went.
The pro-Brexit Daily Telegraph reported last week that British ministers had told business leaders all but a few EU countries were ready to accept the outline of a reciprocity deal possibly as early as at the next EU summit on December 15-16.
But Merkel had already put paid to the British bid by then, sticking to her mantra that there can be no pre-negotiations before Britain tenders its formal notice of intention to leave the Union, setting in motion a two-year countdown to its withdrawal.
May’s push for such a declaration was a rare instance in which, behind closed doors with an EU peer, she has gone beyond bland generalities about her intentions, summed up in stock phrases such as “Brexit means Brexit” and wanting to secure the best deal for Britain that convey no sense of a clear strategy.
A German government spokesman declined to discuss specifics of the Merkel-May meeting, which took place while U.S. President Barack Obama was making a farewell visit to Germany, but said Berlin had made clear its full support for the EU’s “no negotiations without notification” stance. A spokesperson for May’s office said: “I don’t think we’d get into details of private meetings,” noting that the prime minister had made clear publicly what she wants to achieve in terms of “reciprocal rights.”
Mutual mistrust
The tactical thinking behind the German rejection speaks volumes about the depth of mistrust between Berlin and London, and about Merkel’s determination to put preserving the unity of the other 27 EU members ahead of the future relationship with a departing Britain.
Officials were concerned that London would try to salami-slice the negotiations, seeking to retain most of the advantages of EU membership while rejecting obligations such as allowing continued free movement of people, accepting the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, implementing all EU rules and continuing to pay into the EU budget.
Berlin insists those conditions for market access also apply in full to any interim or transitional arrangements after Britain leaves the bloc and before it has completed negotiating a new trade relationship.
In German eyes, any early, partial deal on citizens’ rights might encourage May to play for time and delay triggering Article 50. It might also embolden those in the U.K. government and the Conservative Party who believe Brussels can be bounced into accepting continued British access to the single market without too many concessions. [...]