European Parliament’s Brexit representative Guy Verhofstadt is meeting UK Brexit Secretary David Davids in 9 Downing Street today. Verhofstadt will also meet Cabinet Office minister David Lidington and Home Secretary Amber Rudd at 10 Downing Street where Prime Minister Theresa May would stop by. Verhofstadt urged May to move beyond “vague aspirations” and give “credible proposals” after her Mansion House speech last Friday
May called for a system of “mutual recognition ” on the trade deal with EU after Brexit. That is, the two trading partners should recognize each other rule, yet they’re free to adopt their own ways. The system is to be overseen by a joint UK-EU court. EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s chief adviser Stefaan de Rynck blasted it as a “failed” system. He said “there was a time we thought it would lead to market efficiency, but with the financial crisis we have gone for an approach of more harmonization and centralization and more EU bodies overseeing that and stronger powers for those bodies.” And, “if you are in a very integrated market with a third country but you don’t have the joint enforcement structures, then you can see the potential for all kinds of difficult situations.
