Читать книгу My Secret Brexit Diary - Michel Barnier - Страница 26

This morning we take a train from Brussels to The Hague – a stopping service that allows plenty of time for a four-way conversation between myself, Sabine, Stéphanie and Georg. It marks the beginning of our travels through the EU countries, the first stop on our grand tour of European capitals.

I am surprised at the length of the journey. If we want to make good on our mission, we may have to think about taking trains that don’t stop at every single station… But it must be admitted that, in just a few days and nights, and with little in the way of resources, the team has managed to put together an exceptional programme. The mission of this small ‘commando’ unit is to travel through the twenty-seven countries of the Union over a period of a few weeks, establishing personal contacts with ministers and prime ministers so as to find out where each of them draws their red lines and, in broad terms, to construct our own line of negotiation on the basis of four first principles that I will, from now on, recite to each of my interlocutors.

The journey at least gives me time to refine the messages to be conveyed to the Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

First, there can be no negotiations until we receive notification from the British government. In the Council, the twenty-seven member states have been very clear on this point.

Second, we will only succeed in this negotiation by building and maintaining very strong unity between the twenty-seven member states.

Third, no EU country should find itself in a position where it is has less say than a country outside the Union.

And finally, no country outside the Union should be given a veto on, or even the right to intervene in, the decision-making process of the twenty-seven.

These are the key points to which we will hold fast throughout our work, and which are the conditions for its success.

Mark Rutte is very direct and friendly. I am impressed by the way he delegates and manages his cabinet, the key members of which he has brought together for the occasion. He and his ministers express full support for our team and he tells me that, for him, the interests and unity of the twenty-seven member states will be paramount throughout the negotiations, despite his country’s strong relationship with the UK.