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The UK and the EU have resumed face-to-face trade talks on Brexit in London today, as the deadline for a deal draws ever closer. The transition period should end in just over a month, but the EU’s main Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the talks should be conducted with “patience and communication” if both sides can reach an agreement. Negotiations stopped last week after a member of the EU team tested positive for coronavirus.
In a tweet on Friday, Barnier said “the same significant divergences persist” between the UK and the EU.
Both sides have been at a standstill for months over issues such as fishing rights, the governance of the deal and so-called “level playing field” conditions, which would prevent unfair competition by cutting standards or increasing state subsidies.
Downing Street insists Britain is not afraid to leave the bloc without a deal, but business leaders fear a “double hit” from both the coronavirus pandemic and a no-deal Brexit.
As tensions mount, a leaked memo reveals how the EU wanted to control Britain’s fiscal policies after the transition period.
The document was drafted by the TAX3 secretariat of the European Parliament following a meeting with the Brexit Working Group, the EU negotiating team led by Barnier, in 2018.
EU mask slips off as leak documents expose bloc’s attempt to control UK tax policies (Image: GETTY)
The EU’s main Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier (Image: GETTY)
It stated: “The aim is for the UK to abide by the tools adopted at EU level to fight tax evasion / avoidance.”
The EU’s desire to align itself with taxes reflected the fear in Brussels that Britain will become a Singapore-style low-tax economy after Brexit and a magnet for business and investment.
Although it has no current power over UK taxation, the EU made no secret of its desire to clamp down on low-tax member states, including Ireland, and has long called for a universal corporate tax rate.
Earlier that year, former Finance Minister Philip Hammond told a German newspaper that if Britain was denied access to European markets, “it would change our economic model to regain competitiveness.”
John Longworth, co-chair of Leave Means Leave said: “These leaked documents confirm what graduates have feared from the beginning, that the EU will stop at nothing to stifle Britain’s competitiveness after Brexit.
“Of course, an agreement on tax provisions would also bind us to future regulations. If they keep this secret, what else do they plan for us? If Checkers weren’t bad enough, it’s clear that Brussels expects us to give in more. Now we are facing a total sale. “
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EU-UK trade talks (Image: EXPRESS.CO.UK)
ERG President Jacob Rees-Mogg (Image: GETTY)
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Chairman of the Conservative Backbenchers European Research Group, said: “The worrying thing about this is that the EU wants more power over our taxes once we leave than when we were members of the EU.
“This is part of a Brexit punishment and only serves to reiterate why it is so important that we leave. We need to break free from such an uncompetitive structure before it’s too late. “
The leaked paperwork was drawn up following a meeting with the Brexit Task Force on October 11, 2018.
TAX3 is the EU’s special tax committee, which deals with financial crime, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
The drafting of the minutes of the meeting suggested that Brussels had tried to impose EU fiscal policies on the UK and its overseas territories.
Describing Theresa May’s Checkers proposal as “an illusion”, the documents say: “According to the Commission, it is not feasible that the political statement does not include tax provisions.”
The paperwork added: “The mandate of the negotiating team is to define and create a level playing field, taking into consideration four main areas, one of which is taxation.
“The aim is for the UK to abide by the tools adopted at EU level to combat tax evasion / avoidance, namely the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, the Information Exchange Directives (DAC), including filing of country-by-country reports between tax authorities, Anti-Tax Evasion Directive (ATAD) “.
Economic loss by EU state in the event of a no-deal Brexit (Image: GETTY)
Referring to Britain’s Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), the document adds: “The intention is for them to commit to continuing to align themselves with EU standards, including for their OCTs.”
This is not the only time the EU has been accused of failing to negotiate in good faith.
A recent report by an official close to the talks reveals how the bloc is trying to override the legal integrity and sovereignty of the UK through the “innocuous sounding” issue of security in the Channel Tunnel.
Caroline Bell explained to Briefings for Britain: “Political commentators appear to have overlooked an important decision of the European Council on 9 September, opening a new front in the Brexit war.
“This time the assault is both clandestine and clandestine, and the EU seeks to nullify the legal integrity and sovereignty of the United Kingdom through the harmless issue of security in the Channel Tunnel.”
The European Council decision is quoted as saying: “The EU is working on legislation to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the Channel Tunnel rail connection between continental Europe and the UK (Fixed Channel Link) after the end of the period. Brexit transition.
Today, the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee agreed on a negotiating mandate on two proposals aimed at maintaining a single security authority, which would continue to apply the same set of rules throughout the infrastructure, including in its section under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. .
“Under the mandate of the Council, France will be empowered to negotiate an amendment to the Canterbury Treaty and the EU rail safety and interoperability standards will be amended so that the Intergovernmental Commission can remain the competent safety authority for the application of the EU legislation on the Fixed Channel Link.
“The draft regulation that modifies the security and interoperability provisions will be divided into two draft regulations, in order to modify the Statute of the European Court of Justice in a way that respects the prerogatives of the Court and avoids delays in the initiation of the talks”.
Bell claimed that this is an EU takeover, which seeks to usurp a bilateral agreement that is solid in international law to be able to impose EU regulation and the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the United Kingdom. .
Channel Tunnel (Image: GETTY)
Rail safety is certainly an unusual place to initiate a legal coup, the official noted.
However, the potential to impose new EU technical standards, restrictions, transport conditions, health and safety regulations, labor laws for train crews, etc. it’s huge.
She concluded: “It is almost inevitable that such rules are set to block British companies out of the market to maintain and replace rolling stock and infrastructure. Technical standards are very effective as non-tariff barriers and cover every little element of the railway. – The possibility of a very uneven playing field against British companies is certainly the reason why the EU wishes to interpose itself in a treaty in which it has no right or need to be.
“The British government should trust the no-deal position for the Channel Tunnel and refuse to deviate from international law – there is a rather pleasant irony to that, in light of the howls from Brussels over the market bill inside.
“Agreeing to renegotiate the Treaty of Canterbury to enforce the new EU law and the ECJ’s jurisdiction over the Channel Tunnel would be to repeat the mistake of the Trojans in opening the doors of Troy to the infamous wooden horse of the Greeks .
“The EU must not be allowed to create another version of the Northern Ireland Protocol under the White Cliffs of Dover.”
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