France’s foreign minister has warned that the UK and the EU face bitter negotiations over their future relationship in the coming months as they scramble to bridge divisions over the degree to which Britain will have to play by Brussels rules.
“I think that on trade issues and the mechanism for future relations, which we are going to start on, we are going to rip each other apart,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian at the Munich security conference. “But that is part of negotiations: everyone will defend their own interests.”
His warnings come ahead of a speech on Monday by the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, where he is expected to say that the chances of a deal are being undermined by Brussels’s insistence that Britain sticks to EU rules. Mr Frost, whose task force is leading on EU trade talks, will call for the EU to offer the UK a deal along the lines of those struck with countries including Canada, Japan and South Korea.