There is to be a press conference in Brussels today. What they will announce is anybody's guess. No one expects a breakthrough it is fair to say but they may surprise us. If so Davis is certainly taking things to the wire. If we don't make some big movement quickly we will miss the December summit to begin trade talks, and the window of time available, already closing fast will come down further.
We are making a collosal mess of Brexit. The BBC correspondent Katya Adler (HERE) today described the "incredulity" in Brussels at the behaviour of the British government. I can understand their utter bewilderment at the way we are handling the negotiations. Faced with a resolute EU 27 we will simply not engage on the issue of money. It is a dialogue of the dumb.
Barnier has warned once again that the clock is still ticking but we seem spectacularly laid back as if we think the EU are bluffing and will capitulate any minute. And our government seems to believe industry and banking are also bluffing when they say a transition deal is needed urgently. Against this background Davis simply grins.
Barnier has today raised an important issue (HERE) and (HERE) for any future trade talks. He asks what sort of society we want after Brexit. Do we want to continue the social model that the EU has been building for sixty years with labour, consumer and environmental protection or are we intent on changing to the American system of out and out capitalism? This comes after Wilbur Ross, the US trade Secretary spoke at the CBI on Monday calling for divergence from EU regulations.
This is an important question. The answer may show that Brexit was actually a good thing. In the years before the referendum in 2016, there was a growing movement towards nationalism, not just in this country but more widely, even in Western Europe. Our decision in 2016, taken in a fog of lies, has rather forced a rethinking about the Union right across the continent. And the results have perhaps surprised Euro sceptics.
Electorates in Holland, France and Germany have rejected the extremists and I suspect they have now passed the high water mark. It is often the case that we become blasé about things, that people don't realise what they have until it's gone. Brexit has been a catalysts for thinking more deeply about the purpose and direction of the EU.
Do we want to keep the social model that is the EU with it's strong emphasis on employment, consumer and environmental rights based on commonly agreed standards? Or do we prefer the American system of capitalism in its purest form? Where it's dog eat dog, the rich live well but the poor can't get affordable healthcare and the environment is to be exploited not protected.
We can't know yet the outcome. The leave campaign persisted in the fantasy that we can have both. We can deregulate and enjoy low prices and easy availability of goods and services and at the same time have high standards of health and safety in the workplace and a clean, sustainable environment for our children. The USA under Trump is pulling out of the Paris climate accord and going back to burning coal. They are exporting chlorine washed chicken and hormone fed beef. Is this really what we want? I don't think so.
Perhaps occasionally we need a shock in order to realise what we've got and to be grateful. To see that social progress is always slow, much slower than we all would like, but seeking quick fixes promised by slick salesman is never a good idea. Brexit is going to disappoint and we will eventually rejoin the EU because this is where, in the long run, our best interests lie.
