UK-EU security and foreign policy ties will weaken, says Macron ally
MEP Nathalie Loiseau speaks out amid bafflement in Brussels over Boris Johnsons global Britain ambitions The UK will have weaker ties with the European Union on foreign and security policy, an ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said, amid bafflement in Brussels over Boris Johnsons global Britain ambitions. Nathalie Loiseau, Macrons former Europe minister, who now chairs the European parliaments security and defence subcommittee, told the Guardian that EU-UK foreign policy cooperation would decline in key areas, including some intelligence-sharing, military operations and the Galileo satellite system. The UK is an ally in Nato, but there are a few significant topics on which if there is no formal framework the cooperation will not be the same as before. At the launch of Brexit talks in February the government said that friendly dialogue and cooperation between the UK and the EU did not require an institutionalised relationship. The UKs decision not to seek any formal foreign policy links reversing Johnsons previous promise - has caused profound disappointment among EU allies. Brussels diplomats are also puzzled by the prime ministers ambitions for global Britain and unsure about where the UK is seeking to position itself vis-a-vis Europe, the United States and China. Global Britain sounded more like a good weather motto and today we are in the middle of a hurricane with international tensions higher than ever, Loiseau said. After 47 years and 30 days it was all over. As the clock struck 11pm on 31 January 2020, the UK was officially divorced from the EU and began trying to carve out a new global role as a sovereign nation. It was a union that got off to a tricky start and continued to be marked by the UKs sometimes conflicted relationship with its neighbours. The French president, Charles de Gaulle, vetoes Britains entry to EEC, accusing the UK of a deep-seated hostility towards the European project. With Sir Edward Heath having signed the accession treaty the previous year, the UK enters the EEC in an official ceremony complete with a torch-lit rally, dickie-bowed officials and a procession of political leaders, including former prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home. The UK decides to stay in the common market after 67% voted "yes". Margaret Thatcher, later to be leader of the Conservative party, campaigned to remain. Margaret Thatcher negotiated what became known as the UK rebate with other EU members after the "iron lady" marched into the former French royal palace at Fontainebleau to demand our own money back claiming for every 2 contributed we get only 1 back despite being one of the three poorer members of the community. It was a move that sowed the seeds of Tory Euroscepticism that was to later cause the Brexit schism in the party. Thatcher served notice on the EU community in a defining moment in EU politics in which she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had remarked that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community within 10 years with a European government in embryo. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher. Collapse of Berlin wall and fall of communism in eastern Europe, which would later lead to expansion of EU. Divisions between the UK and the EU deepened with Thatcher telling the Commons in an infamous speech it was no, no, no to what she saw as Delors continued power grab. Rupert Murdochs Sun newspaper ratchets up its opposition to Europe with a two-fingered Up yours Delors front page. A collapse in the pound forced prime minister John Major and the then chancellor Norman Lamont to pull the UK out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism. On 1 January, customs checks and duties were removed across the bloc. Thatcher hailed the vision of a single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people". Tory rebels vote against the treaty that paved the way for the creation of the European Union. John Major won the vote the following day in a pyrrhic victory. Tony Blair patches up the relationship. Signs up to social charter and workers' rights. Nigel Farage elected an MEP and immediately goes on the offensive in Brussels. Our interests are best served by not being a member of this club, he said in his maiden speech. The level playing field is about as level as the decks of the Titanic after it hit an iceberg. Chancellor Gordon Brown decides the UK will not join the euro. EU enlarges to to include eight countries of the former eastern bloc including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. EU expands again, allowing Romania and Bulgaria into the club. Anti-immigration hysteria seems to take hold with references to cockroches by Katie Hopkins in the Sun and tabloid headlines such as How many more can we take? and Calais crisis: send in the dogs. David Cameron returns from Brussels with an EU reform package - but it isn't enough to appease the Eurosceptic wing of his own party The UK votes to leave the European Union, triggering David Cameron's resignation and paving the way for Theresa May to become prime minister After years of parliamentary impasse during Theresa May's attempt to get a deal agreed, the UK leaves the EU. We dont hear much from the UK right now, on issues like Iran or Syria or Libya, Loiseau said. Even in Nato the voice of the UK is much weaker than it used to be. It may be temporary ... but thats a fact. While the UK has bilateral relationships with foreign security services, Loiseau said some intelligence-sharing to assess terrorist risks and risks coming from third states willing to influence divide us or weaken us would be lost without a formal agreement. The former French diplomat said the UK would no longer be able to take part in EU military missions overseas. The UK has contributed personnel to an estimated 25 of 35 EU military and civilian missions, although usually less than other member states. As an EU member state, the British led a naval force to protect ships from Somali pirates, and remains involved in the EU peacekeeping force in Bosnia. Similarly Loiseau said the absence of a foreign policy agreement would rule out British access to the Galileo satellites encrypted signal , which can be used to guide missiles and share information during national emergencies, such as terrorist attacks. We would certainly not deny the UK its rights provided that they come into a specific framework agreement which is needed, Loiseau said. This notion that everything can be clarified by diplomatic niceties is not correct, is not accurate. Her view chimes with regret and puzzlement across the EU over Johnsons decision not to see any foreign policy agreement. The EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier , a former minister in the French government, recently said I still dont understand why the UK was not seeking formal links on defence and security policy, noting that Johnson had signed up a foreign policy relationship in the political declaration last October. One EU diplomat told the Guardian it was really a blow for us when Johnson revealed the UK no longer wanted any foreign policy ties, including on development and foreign aid. We are very concerned that it is going to be much more difficult to have closer cooperation. A second EU diplomat said without a common agreement there was the risk that the two sides drift further apart, which I dont think is in our common interest. EU diplomats argue that ad-hoc arrangements could never be as good and will be exposed as a poor substitute during a crisis. Loiseau rejected suggestions that France had made it difficult for a post-Brexit Britain to cooperate with the EU on a new generation of defence projects , by ruling out British companies from contracts. Under Theresa May, the UK government said the then French position excluding non-EU entities from contracts made it impossible for the UK to get involved. Loiseau said discussions were ongoing. We have always been very much in favour or keeping the UK as much as possible on board on foreign policy, on security and defence. A UK government spokesperson said: We expect foreign policy cooperation [with the EU] to be substantial as indeed it is with many of our international partners but we dont think we need a clunky institutional framework to deliver it effectively. We are already working closely with the EU on a wide range of issues including Iran, Libya, climate change, and Russia. These dont require an institutional framework, and we see no reason why this cannot continue. The spokesperson added the UK was open to discussing technical agreements where genuinely needed such as a security of information agreement to share classified information.