Brexit negotiator Barnier admits people across Europe are fed up with free movement
BREXIT negotiator Michel Barnier today admitted people across Europe are frustrated with EU free movement but insisted following Britain’s example and quitting the bloc is not the answer to concerns about immigration.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Fri, May 5, 2017
In a keynote speech in Florence the French official embarked on an impassioned defence of the project’s cornerstone policy and laid out his detailed demands on citizens rights which the UK will have to agree to before trade talks can start.
Speaking at a summit on the future of the Brussels club Mr Barnier suggested that Theresa May’s plan to reduce net migration through border controls will not deliver the results UK voters were hoping for when they backed Brexit.
Instead he urged other member states to reform their domestic labour markets to prevent the undercutting of wages, whilst pointing out that EU migrants contribute more to the British coffers in taxes than they take out in benefits.
Mr Barnier made the remarks during a conciliatory speech which he started with a joke that he would deliver it in English – a jibe at the Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker who caused a storm this morning with his remarks about the language’s reducing importance in Europe.
The Frenchman insisted he would be “amicable but firm” with Mrs May during the talks and laid out his stance on citizens’ rights in minute detail, using a series of fictional scenarios involving UK and EU citizens to illustrate different issues which need to be resolved.
He also left the door firmly open to future collaboration on a number of important issues, such as scientific research and academia, but said this would require new legal frameworks which could not realistically be sorted out within the two-year negotiating period.
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