'EU governments won't let Juncker torpedo their business interests' trade advisor warns
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER'S decision to leak details of a private Brexit dinner with Theresa May is going to "reverberate around Europe”, a think tank boss and former trade advisor warned.
Shanker Singham: EU won’t let commission ‘torpedo’ interests
Shanker Singham, director of economic policy at the Legatum Institute, warned if the report was accurate, it would only damage the EU Commissioner itself as member states would not allow their interests to be 'torpedoed.'
Speaking to talkRADIO, he said: “My view is, some of the things he is quoted as saying, if they are true, would be very problematic.
“Things like this can’t be a success, well who is he representing? He’s representing European businesses, European people, European consumers, is his determination that this shouldn’t be a success for them?
“That would be a bit of an odd thing for the European Commission to say.”
Mr Singham said there was a global interest in making Brexit work and entering into negotiations without intending could result in power being taken from the Commission and given to the Council of Ministers.
He said: “There are a lot of people who have very big stakes in this being as successful as it possibly can be, not only in Europe but everywhere around the world.
“I think what will happen from the triggering of Article 50 through to the end of the negotiating two-year period is there will be a shift of negotiating power from the Commission to the Council of Ministers.
“[EU member states] aren't going to sit back and allow [their commercial] interest to be torpedoed because the Commission is playing games with this.
“The more that this stuff comes out and the more the Commission negotiating style comes out in the press, the quicker that transaction will be.
Professor claims Brexit will lead to more UK job losses
EU member states] aren't going to sit back and allow [their commercial] interest to be torpedoed
“You probably have a lot of people waking up in European capitals after this report came out, scratching their heads and asking 'why don't we want this to be a success?'"
Mr Singham added divorce talks with the European Union would be like an emotional rollercoaster but insisted once things calm down, constructive talks would take place.
He said: “I think we have to get set for what will be, certainly, in the beginning, an emotional rollercoaster, in terms of these negotiations.
“There are going to be a lot of mornings where we wake up and think this is going to be incredibly difficult, the Europeans are certainly not going to cooperate at all.
“But that is normal, early negotiations so I wouldn’t be unduly pessimistic.
“This is a process and the scale of the rollercoaster is gradually going to calm down and is gradually going to lead to constructive results.”
The diplomatic row erupted after the detailed account of Mrs May’s talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last Wednesday emerged in the German media.
According to the report, the talks broke up after the PM refused to accept European Union’s demand for the UK to pay an exit fee of up to £50billion.
Mr Juncker was said to have hit back by insisting Brussels was not “a golf club” the UK could simply walk out of.