Michel Barnier wants Brexit reset

FLORENCE — In a technical but toughly worded speech — pointedly delivered in English — the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier tried to reset the tone of Brexit discussions in a speech at the European University Institute’s “State of the Union” conference.

“Let’s turn the page together in mutual respect and find solutions together,” Barnier said, predicting that the negotiations will take on a Shakespearian tone by asking the parties “what it is to be or not be” European.

He called for the Brexit reset only after placing the blame for Brexit certainty squarely on the U.K.’s shoulders.

Barnier said it would be wrong to blame others for Brexit uncertainty and tension because it was the U.K. that asked to leave, and the U.K. that has left a 12-month gap between its referendum and the kick-off of formal negotiations.

The EU’s negotiator also implied that the previous U.K. government fermented the country’s toxic immigration debate when it chose, unlike most EU countries, to immediately and completely open its labor market up to citizens from new EU countries in 2004.

An EU official told POLITICO that Barnier was simply referring to the fact of the 2004 EU labor market opening, rather than criticizing it.

Barnier himself went on to defend the broader value of EU labor mobility saying “free movement of people is at the heart of EU citizenship.”

“The integrity of the single market will never ever be compromised during these negotiations,” Barnier said.

Barnier went on to hint that he considers it would be foolish to limit EU citizens’ access to the U.K. labor market in any future agreement between the two parties.

He said he knew of one British supermarket chain where only one in 15 job applicants are UK nationals, and that 60,000 hospitality vacancies would be created and hard to fill after Brexit.

EU citizens must be treated properly

The EU will require “crystal clear guarantees,” including via a role for the European Court of Justice, for whatever is agreed in Brexit negotiations, Barnier said.

Barnier said EU law sets out that “protection should apply for the lifetime of the citizens who are concerned,” and that there must be “equal treatment between all EU nationals in the U.K.”

He pushed for a maximum vision of what rights should apply. In Barnier’s view these rights apply also to EU citizen who lack proof of their U.K. residency, and to family members of EU citizens who are citizens only of non-EU countries.

Barnier said the EU would not discuss its future relationship with the U.K. until we are assured that all our citizens will be treated “properly and humanly.”