Top EU firms pile pressure on Theresa May with ‘time is running out’ Brexit warning
3 min read
Major European firms have said Theresa May must reach a frictionless post-Brexit customs arrangement with the EU or risk a cut in UK investment.
Business leaders from firms including BP, BMW, Nestle, and Vodafone have told the Prime Minister that “time is running out” and a trade deal with the bloc must be "frictionless as with a customs union".
It comes as the impasse over how to maintain a frictionless border in Ireland while outside the customs union rumbles on, just weeks before the June EU summit.
At a meeting in Downing Street yesterday, industry chiefs from the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) warned Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis that “uncertainty causes less investment”.
Number 10 said the meeting had been “open and productive” and that “trade at the UK-EU border should be as frictionless as possible”.
In a joint statement, the ERT said: “The uninterrupted flow of goods is essential to both the EU and UK economies.”
“This must be frictionless as with a customs union. We need clarity and certainty, because time is running out. Uncertainty causes less investment.”
PRUM CONVENTION
The intervention comes amid an apparent fresh struggle in negotiations, with France reportedly prepared to block continued UK membership of a crucial European Union security system.
Ministers want to retain links to a Prüm Convention-style arrangement, which allows the exchange of vital DNA, fingerprint and vehicle information with other European countries
But The Times reports that France is leading the fight against a “Prüm 2”, with a senior government figure telling the paper: “Normally France is quite helpful when it comes to security co-operation but on this they are being awkward.”
The revelation marks a fresh example of the European Commission upholding rules that limit the sharing of sensitive information with third countries – just days after the Galileo satellite row.
But French embassy spokeswoman Aurélie Bonal poured cold water on the story.
‘LESS PRIVILEGED’ SCIENCE DEAL
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that the UK’s bid for a special deal on science and research collaboration has been knocked-back by Brussels.
The European commission’s negotiators refused to discuss the issue in talks last week, saying Britain could only enter their multi-billion pound research programme as a “third country”, according to the paper.
It says the Horizon Europe document shows the UK in a less privileged position than countries with associate status in the current programme, such as Israel, Turkey, Albania and Ukraine and the EFTA countries.
According to the draft paper, so-called “third countries”, which include Canada and South Korea - and eventually the UK - will not have a seat on the new European Innovation Council, which sets priorities.
It also said firms from those countries will not have the opportunity to apply for “fast, flexible grants and co-investments” designed to “bridge the ‘valley of death’ between research, commercialisation and the scaling-up of companies”.
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