Brussels skewers Boris over claim Britain won't have to pay for Single Market access

Two senior eurocrats insisted the foreign secretary’s
comments were misguided and that countries outside
the bloc cannot enjoy the full benefits of its economic
area cost free.
In a widely debated 4,000 word article setting out his
very personal Brexit position last week, Mr Johnson
had argued that the UK should not agree to continued
budget payments to Brussels.
Polish eurocrat Elzbieta Bienkowska
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Championing his vision for a ‘Global Britain’ trading
around the world, he wrote: “We would not expect to
pay for access to their markets any more than they
would expect to pay for access to ours.”
But his remarks met with a stony reception from two
of the bloc’s most senior officials at a press
conference about reforms to the European labour
market in Brussels today.
Countries like Norway and Switzerland pay
contributions towards EU programmes and agree to the
Single Market’s core principles, including free
movement, in return for deep and wide-ranging access
to it.
Other states that have free trade agreements (FTAs)
with the bloc, such as Canada, do not pay any
membership fees, but that fact is reflected in
significantly looser economic ties.
The current UK Government position is that it wants to
negotiate an "unprecedented" FTA with Brussels,
which would retain most of the benefits of Single
Market membership but without the associated costs.
But Polish eurocrat Elzbieta Bienkowska, who served
as her country’s deputy prime minister before
becoming Commissioner for the Single Market, said no
exceptions would be made for the UK if it wanted
deep access.
She
said:
“Putting it very simply, if you are part of the EU you
are part of the Single Market. If you’re not part of the
EU, you need to negotiate your part in the Single
Market in the future. That’s it.”
And Jyrki Katainen, a vice-president of the
Commission, said that British voters had chosen to
leave the Single Market when they voted to quit the
EU last summer.
He said: “Of course, the Single Market is crucial to
our industrial policy because it’s the way we can
strengthen the competitiveness of the EU and it’s also
part of our attractiveness in the eyes of third country
players.
“It’s a powerful tool for us, externally but also
internally. British people didn’t want to or they voted
that they don’t want to participate, to appreciate the
Single Market anymore, and it’s too sad but what you
can do.”
The EU has ambitious plans to reform the Single
Market project over the next few years, including by
extending it to digital services and creating a new
labour ministry to tackle undercutting of wages and
conditions.
Brexit negotiations: UK’s key
policy positions
Wed, September 13, 2017
Here is a summary of the UK’s main proposals for
Brexit
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Mr Johnson’s article, which appeared in the Telegraph,
caused a major row at the heart of the Cabinet with
Home Secretary Amber Rudd accusing the eurosceptic
of “back seat driving” over Brexit.
The foreign secretary is currently fighting an internal
battle within the Government over the issue of ongoing
payments to Brussels, as part of either a Brexit bill or
a transitional deal.
He has made a big play of his controversial claim that
leaving the EU would free up £350 million a week for
the NHS, and has previously said the bloc could “go
whistle” over its financial demands.
Theresa May is set to make a highly anticipated
speech in Florence on Friday in which, it has been
suggested, she may set out a compromise deal which
would involve three years of transitional payments.

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