The British government have published their suggested Framework for the future UK-EU partnership in Science, Research and Innovation (HERE). For sheer schizophrenic chutzpah you have to hand it to David Davis and Mrs May. As usual it looks like an accession request and points to "our shared interests and values, ensuring we act together for our mutual benefit".
An economic partnership, that goes beyond any existing FTA, covering more sectors and with deeper cooperation. And a security partnership, maintaining and strengthening our ability to meet the ever evolving threats we both face.
These will sit alongside cross-cutting areas such as data protection.
It goes on to explain how science, research and innovation is "at the heart of global competitiveness and productivity" as if this was a revelation to the EU which is streets ahead of us in both. The government has discovered that these things "address societal challenges and drive new ideas and knowledge".
Apparently we want "Europe to maintain its world-leading role in science and innovation" and we are "committed to a far-reaching Science and Innovation Pact with the EU".
This is going to look like cherry picking and I quote from Sir Ivan Rogers' speech yesterday:
".... the revealed position of the UK Government, if one reads its speeches and documents on everything from financial services to customs procedures and from data to internal security, is really a very thinly disguised attempt to achieve from outside the EU the vast bulk of what Cameron was seeking to achieve from just inside the perimeter fence".
"But the Luxembourg PM, Xavier Bettel’s pithy description is a pretty good one: “Before they (the British) were in with a lot of opt-outs; now they are out and want a lot of opt-ins”.
"Michel Barnier has likewise expressed surprise that so many of the UK documents read like ones from a state aspiring to accede to the EU, not one intending to leave it. I confess I slightly share the puzzlement. So many of the positions in these documents read a good deal more enthusiastic about the case for remaining closely aligned to EU policy than most of the instructions I ever received from Departments when negotiating over years on their behalf in Brussels!"
This is the paradox isn't it? Now we are leaving the shared interests and values count for far more than they ever did when we were a member.
