The secret memories of Brexit

The greatest achievement of the European Union during the negotiation for the exit of the United Kingdom (2018-2019) and the trade and cooperation agreement (2020) was the maintenance of the unity of the 27 states in the face of the continuous attempts by London to divide them . But the "secret Brexit diary" just published by Michel Barnier, European chief negotiator in both processes, reveals that the maneuvers of the governments of Theresa May, first, and Boris Johnson, later, were on the verge of achieving their objective several times. to break the unity of the EU. Barnier feared on more than one occasion that the European Commission would initiate a negotiation with London in parallel to his own and, even, that Brussels would sacrifice the fishing sector for the sake of an advantageous trade agreement.

Barnier's diary (entitled

La grande illusion. Journal secret du Brexit

, publisher Gallimard) is published just a few months after the 2020 Christmas Eve agreement between Brussels and London that ended a 1,600-day negotiation triggered by the referendum on favor of the Brexit of 2016. The work serves Barnier to turn the page.

And to claim a notoriety that some analysts interpret as the prelude to his possible candidacy for president of France, since he could challenge Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen for the presidency in the May 2022 elections.

More information

• The EU and the UK are preparing to close the post-Brexit deal

• Michel Barnier, the skier's tenacity

Brexit's secret memory is made up of hundreds of stitches without thread alongside others with acupuncture precision. The seemingly harmless Barnier needle leaves a trail that, at the very least, very

Brexiters will be

able to decipher as if it were a coded message.

Barnier records how, during the final stretch of the trade agreement, he had to stop the Cabinet of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, tempted to open a parallel negotiation to bridge the apparent inflexibility of Barnier. "The negotiation is about to derail," Barnier warned Von der Leyen's team at one of the most tense moments among European negotiators. Barnier adds that his threat had an effect and it was immediately understood in the president's office: "I will not accept those methods."

For Barnier it was raining in the wet because during the negotiation of the London exit agreement he had already tried the same with the then president of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. "It has become commonplace for Martin Selmayr [Juncker's chief of staff] to try his own contacts [with British negotiators] in parallel," Barnier notes with evident resentment. Barnier is convinced that “from the beginning, the British play their cards at two tables and seek to open a second line of negotiation with Martin Selmayr. And I see that he does not resist ... ”.

But perhaps the most delicate point for the chief negotiator was the final stretch, when quotas for the fisheries sector in British waters became the last bargaining chip between Ursula Von der Leyen and Boris Johnson.

As the abyss of December 31 approached, the deadline to avoid an abrupt end to the transitional period of Brexit, the temptation to sacrifice fishing quotas seems to be increasing.

"It is not just a question of a few mackerels, as I heard say one day," muses Barnier, who says he does not always feel understood by the president's cabinet.

And Barnier resists twice, according to his newspaper, Von der Leyen's proposals that, in the negotiator's opinion, could have cornered the EU fishing countries instead of the United Kingdom.

The agreement arrived, although previously Barnier reviewed the proposal presented / displayed by the British to Von der Leyen. "A text full of cheating, false commitments and backtracks," Barnier describes the London proposal before it was amended. On Christmas Eve, with the deal closed, Barnier coldly says goodbye to the British negotiator, David Frost. “He knows that I know that until the last moment he has tried to bypass me by trying to open a parallel line of negotiation with the Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen. And he knows that this has not been conclusive ”.

Throughout the text, the European negotiator does not stop expressing his surprise and amazement at the apparent lack of preparation on the British side, especially under the first negotiator, David Davis. "The British speak for themselves," he notes. "Lack of realism," he adds. And he assures: “It has always seemed foolish for a great country like the United Kingdom to carry out such a negotiation and a decision of such magnitude, so important for its future, without having a clear vision or a majority to support it in the Government and Parliament. ”.

Barnier tiptoes past the threat of a veto that the Pedro Sánchez government posed to the agreement if an alleged reference to Gibraltar added by the British at the last minute was not clarified.

"[The Spaniards] see in this article a British maneuver and a trap in which we would have fallen due to lack of vigilance," the European negotiator notes after specifying that neither the legal service of the Commission nor that of the Council shares Madrid's interpretation.

Barnier believes that the "drama", the term in quotes he uses to describe the incident, only responds to the desire for revenge "for the humiliation of London", which took advantage of Spain's entry into the EU in 1986 to consolidate its sovereignty over the Crag.

Endless

The long story evokes a global backdrop that ranges from the political dystopia of Donald Trump's presidency in the US to the medieval-digital lockdown caused by the pandemic. On both sides of the English Channel, events also followed one another. Three prime ministers have passed through Downing Street since 2016 (David Cameron, May and the current one, Johnson) and in four years three elections were held in the United Kingdom, including bizarre and unexpected ones to the European Parliament when the agreement to leave the EU already it was closed but not ratified.

In Brussels there was a change in the entire community leadership (Von der Leyen replaced Jean-Claude Juncker at the head of the Commission and Charles Michel replaced Donald Tusk in the presidency of the European Council).

And several capitals changed government during the negotiation, including Paris, Madrid and Rome (three prime ministers passed through it).

The feeling of an endless Brexit is corroborated by the many personal vicissitudes of both negotiating teams.

Several members, including Barnier and Frost, passed the COVID-19 and, like so many millions of Europeans, had to get used to working through an interposed screen, something that the Frenchman acknowledges causes him some fatigue.

Barnier was a grandfather for the first time and his frustrated aspirations to chair the European Commission were left along the way. Among the officials on his team (60 people from 17 countries) there was time to celebrate the birth of five babies. "The team is quite young and that allows a good average, with the captain's age!" Jokes Barnier, who was 65 when the Brexit referendum was held and now, already 70, perhaps dreams of the Elysee.